Anne Arundel County sends 10,000 voters incorrect election booklet

About 10,000 registered voters in Anne Arundel County were sent the wrong informational practice ballot for the upcoming primary election, the county board of elections said late Tuesday.

The practice booklet sent to voters displayed an incorrect legislative district on page two, the result of a “localized” printing error, the board said in a news release.

The board discovered and confirmed the error Tuesday afternoon after it received an inquiry from a local voter, the board said in a statement.

The error is “strictly confined” to the practice ballot book, and voter registration data, election day ballots, mail-in ballots and electronic pollbooks are “secure, 100% accurate, and completely unaffected by” this issue, the board said.

“We are fixing this issue transparently. We appreciate the voter who reached out to us, and we want to assure all Anne Arundel County residents that their actual, official voting ballots will reflect their correct Legislative District,” Anne Arundel Elections Director David Garreis said in a statement.

Anne Arundel’s printing error comes on the heels of Maryland elections officials announcing they’ll have to re-send about 400,000 actual, mail-in ballots to voters due to a mistake.

Anne Arundel is sending replacement informational practice ballots to affected voters with a clear alert on the front informing voters of the issue and apologizing for the mistake.

The board said its printing vendor is prioritizing the corrected practice ballots.

Garreis said the county has a long-standing relationship with the vendor, Baltimore-based CAC Direct Marketing Services. He said county officials are working with the company’s leadership to “expedite the corrective mailing.”

Garreis did not say whether the county would be charged for the new mailings. He said in an email that “financial and contractual details” are being reviewed and will be addressed with CAC Direct once the correct sample ballots are mailed out.

Production of the corrected sample ballots is “moving forward immediately,” Garreis said, but he did not provide a timeline for when they would be mailed out to voters. He said officials want them mailed out “as quickly as possible” so that people have time to review them before early voting begins.

Early voting in Maryland is scheduled for June 11-18. The primary election is June 23.

This story was updated with more information from Anne Arundel County Elections Director David Garreis.