SLO mail-in ballots contain error

June 1, 2016

voteThe envelopes delivered with San Luis Obispo County vote-by-mail ballots incorrectly instruct voters, “Mail early. Postmarks do not count.” After a change in state law, vote-by-mail ballots will now be counted if they are postmarked on election day and reach elections officials within the following three days. [Tribune]

County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said the error occurred because of a miscommunication between his office and the ballot printers. SLO County elections officials placed ballots in the mail on May 9, but the error went unnoticed until Tuesday.

Gong said the county will not issue new ballot envelopes for the June 7 primary, but vote-by-mail ballots will be counted in accordance with the new law. Still, Gong said it is preferred to turn in ballots, earlier, rather than later.

This election cycle, about 100,000 SLO County voters are registered to vote by mail, a record for the county.


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And I’ll wager that Tommy will still get his usual salary increase next time with kudos for doing a very good job. Just another example of what we get for county employees.

Higher than average pay with superior benefits – and not a shred of taking responsibility.


Does this mean dead people are voting? ; )


Typical government employee mentality, blame someone else. Really Tommy? Your office screwed up and you’re blaming the print shop? This is the kind of stuff that makes your average Joe Citizen crazy about the way our government operates, especially on a local scale.


“County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said the error occurred because of a miscommunication between his office and the ballot printers”


I always love the “miscommunication” excuse. Lousy.


Really though, this mistake has nothing to do with the integrity of the election. Of course, if someone loses a close election they will raise a stink about “improprieties” and somehow say that they lost due to this mistake.


So people mailed early, big deal.