Ada County gave nearly 2,500 wrong polling place. ‘Where to vote’ postcards are correct
The Ada County elections office mailed notification cards with the wrong polling place listed to nearly 2,500 voters, the office announced Monday.
The cards, which include information on legislative districts and precincts, are intended to go to voters who either recently registered or updated their registration. The cards come attached to letters confirming the change and can be separated so a voter can hang on to it.
Chelsea Carattini, spokesperson for the elections office, said 19 total precincts were affected: 1513, 1610, 1613, 1703, 1708, 1710, 1711, 1714, 1801, 1805, 1811, 1817, 1818, 1912, 1918, 2002, 2006 and 2108 in Boise, and 1413 in Meridian.
In total, 2,462 voters received incorrect information in the Oct. 23 letter, the elections office said, after a mailing vendor pulled information from an old list of polling locations. Of those 2,462 voters, 1,183 have already voted either early or absentee. The remaining 1,279 have not.
Voters separately received information with the correct location in the form of a “Note where to vote” postcard in mid-October, according to a news release, and are encouraged to follow that instead. Signs are also posted at the incorrect locations to direct voters to the right place, and elections staff will help.
To confirm your polling place, visit adacounty.id.gov/elections and click “Where to Vote.” Type in your address to look up your polling place and see a sample ballot.
“We apologize to everyone impacted by this error and for any inconvenience that may result,” Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane said in a press release. “We really regret that this happened. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to vote and are taking steps to help ensure that these voters are able to get to the proper location and vote in this important election.”
Ada County has had problems with other mailings this year, including with ballots. During Idaho’s primary election in May, held entirely by mail, some voters got ballots that listed incorrect candidates, while others got ballots without the requested party affiliation. In total, more than 7,000 ballots had to be reissued.
Also in 2020, more than 30,000 voters got a postcard telling them they had not requested an absentee ballot for November, even though some of them had. McGrane attributed that problem to a programming error.
This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 4:18 PM.
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