News and Headlines

Actions

Some voters receiving already marked ballots in Maryland, reports say

Posted

Maryland's elections administrator says officials are receiving sporadic reports of voters around the state receiving ballots that have already been marked.

Linda Lamone said by telephone Tuesday afternoon that they received similar reports during the primary and she calls it "human error."

Lamone says voters will sometimes make a mistake on a ballot and hand a used ballot back to poll workers, who are supposed to mark it "spoiled."  She says some workers are getting so busy they aren't marking them and somehow give a used ballot to another voter.

Baltimore City election chief Armistead Jones said that complaint was an isolated issue.

He believes it was the result of a "spoiled ballot." If someone makes an error on a ballot, they hand it back to the judge and it should go in an envelope. He believes that ballot was give to another voter. Jones said board members at the location are looking into the issue.