Athens-Clarke County has asked about 300 voters to fill out new absentee ballots after an error was discovered in the ones they’d already been sent.
According to ACC, those 300 voters received ballots that included a candidate for state Senate District 46 who should not have been included.
The ballot listed Republican incumbent Bill Cowsert, Democrat Marisue Hilliard and independent John Fortuin. However, Fortuin did not qualify as an independent candidate. He is a write-in candidate, and write-in candidates’ names do not appear on the ballot.
The ACC Board of Elections held a called meeting Thursday and decided to send those voters new ballots, along with instructions to use the corrected ballot and return it to the Board of Elections. Staff is also contacting those voters by phone and email if possible.
If voters had already filled out and returned a ballot containing the error and don’t return the corrected version, their votes will still be counted in all races except the Senate District 46 race.
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