Format error includes extra words on ballot

Error discovered in ballot explanation wording of four state measures

Washington County Elections officials have discovered an error in the four state ballot measures’ explanation of the result of the vote on the General Election ballot.

According to Washington County Election Manager, Mickie Kawai, all State measures (107, 108, 109 and 110) were printed with the response of “Yes” and “No” randomly buried in the content of the “Result of ‘Yes’ Vote:” and “Result of ‘No’ Vote:” sections on the ballot. This error was created when the certified (pdf) text was converted, copied, and pasted into the ballot design software. This extra text was not noticed when proofing the content. According to Kawai, “We will be reviewing our proofing procedures and will seek advice from other counties and other states as to their proofreading actions in an effort to create a system that will prevent errors like this in the future.”

Kawai consulted with the Secretary of State’s office and got confirmation that, despite the extra “Yes” and “No” in the “Result of” sections for each measure, the ovals for actually voting “Yes” or “No” on the ballot measures are correct and will still get counted as intended. Voters can utilize the summary flyer that is included with the mailed ballot or the State’s Voters’ Pamphlet for the full text and a correct “Result of “yes”/”no” Vote” statement.

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