Nearly 50,000 voters in Franklin County, Ohio, received incorrect absentee ballots, election officials said Friday. The glitch, thought to be an accident, seems to affect one in five ballots sent by the county to this point.
The incorrect ballots were sent out after an unknown person changed the setting on a device that stuffs absentee ballots into envelopes. The change, which effected 49,669 voters, is thought to be an accident.
Officials said new ballots would be sent out within three days.
"We want to make it clear that every voter who received an inaccurate ballot will receive a corrected ballot," officials said in a news release, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
A voter who sends in both the replacement ballot and the original ballot will only have the replacement ballot counted. A voter who sends in only the original ballot will have only their votes in races they were eligible to vote in counted.
"No vote will be counted twice," said county Elections Director Ed Leonard. "Every voter will receive an accurate ballot and that ballot will be counted."
