PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office has contacted about 24 Port Townsend voters, telling them that if they receive more than one ballot, it’s a mistake and throw away the second one.
The culprit: A printer put the wrong ZIP code on some ballot envelopes.
The reason is unknown.
County Auditor Donna Eldridge said the printer malfunction led to 508 Port Townsend ballot envelopes being printed with an incorrect Port Townsend ZIP code of 18369 instead of the correct 98368.
The Postal Service returned 412 incorrectly coded ballots, heading them off before they reached voters, Eldridge said.
The Postal Service determined those ballots were undeliverable.
96 ballots still in the mail
The remaining 96, however, were addressed to voters Eldridge’s office must contact.
“So how many were incorrectly zipped and delivered to voters? So far 11 with an incorrect ZIP code got delivered,” Eldridge said of voters contacted by her employees.
Eldridge said she and the county Elections Department decided to mail a second batch of 508 ballots with the correct ZIP code on them.
“We believe it’s better for our voters to have a ballot than not have a ballot,” said Eldridge, adding that she does not want any voter disenfranchised.
Hence her order. If a voter received a ballot despite it having an incorrect ZIP code, just throw away the second one.
Voters who did not receive an incorrectly coded ballot will be receiving their first ballot in the second batch.
The return envelopes were correctly printed, she said.
Although Eldridge admits a mistake was made, she said, “This error would not jeopardize the integrity of the election process.”
She said the system only allows one vote per person.
Ballots were mailed to voters on Oct. 19.
Eldridge said registered voters who have not received a ballot should call her office at 360-385-9117.
