Election advocate renews calls for independent review of ballot printing
A duplicate ballot arriving at one Maryland home is raising new questions about a batch of replacement mail-in ballots sent to more than 400,000 voters.
The replacement mail-in ballots were rushed to voters last month after it was discovered that the state’s printer had mistakenly sent some Democratic and Republican voters the ballot for the wrong party. But in the rush, at least one voter received two replacement ballots.
New concerns about the replacement ballots arose last week. A family member of a Maryland Matters reporter received two new ballots in three days. Both ballots are marked as replacements.
State Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis said last week that the duplication could be the result of a damaged ballot that was reprinted and mailed. He could not say why the duplicate was sent or if it was a singular instance. He asked for time to research the issue as well as to see if other voters were affected.
DeMarinis was not available for an interview Monday. A spokesperson for the agency did not provide answers to written questions.
The five-member board of elections is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. That meeting was scheduled on May 28.