Voter told county Elections Office about ballot snafu

The phone call in early February from the San Carlos voter went to an elections office supervisor and then to Mark Church, chief elections officer, who called superintendents of the four school districts affected by the error, Irizarry recounted. The company that prints ballots for San Mateo County apologized in a Feb. 13 letter to Church for the problem. Material and data the county supplied was accurate, the letter said.

An employee of K&H Integrated Print Solutions in Everett, Washington changed databases in a try to be more efficient with what are called split precincts, the company said. Irizarry said the printing vendor employee used a precinct formula for the state of Utah.

A precinct can be split because a city’s jurisdiction does not match the boundaries of school districts.

Voters in such split precincts received ballots for elections in a neighboring San Mateo County precinct.

A total of 2,046 voters in the San Mateo Union High School, San Carlos Elementary, La Honda-Pescadero Unified and Portola Valley Elementary school districts were sent the ballots Feb. 6.

Replacement ballots were sent within two days and returned material ballots will be discarded. Affected voters were contacted by letter, phone or email.

K&H will cover costs — which will be determined after the March 3 election — associated with the ballot snafu, said Irizarry, who added that “the true test of an Elections Office is the ability to manage unexpected events.”

ryan@smdailyjournal.com

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