CRAWFORD COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Some Crawford County voters were given the wrong ballot after a programming issue, leaving those voters upset that they didn’t get to vote for all the races they were supposed to.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying much attention to what I was doing, I just assumed it was the right ballot and I voted and left," Billy Teague said. "Then on the way home, I got to thinking I didn’t see some things."
Teague says this happened Wednesday (Oct. 21) morning when he went to early vote at the Alma Community Center. He says later in the day his wife called to tell him that she had been given the wrong ballot when she went to early vote and pointed out the mistake to the poll workers.
“It was a little upsetting at first, but it shouldn’t be that much of a problem to get it fixed but it’s turned out to be, apparently it’s not going to happen, I’m not going to be allowed to fix it, he said. "I voted in the wrong precincts and I’m not going to be able to vote in the right one."
The Crawford County Election Commission says there was a programming issue in the ballots for three precincts in the northern part of the county. They say 87 Cedarville voters didn’t get the opportunity to vote for the de-annexation and 34 incorrect ballots were given out for state house, congress and a justice of the peace races before the problem was discovered.
Crawford County Election Commission Chairman, Bill Coleman says there were 6 people who were not issued a ballot to be able to vote for the House District 80 race, the Congressional District 3 race and a Justice of the Peace race.
“There were also 28 ballots that were issued for folks in other precincts that they did have the opportunity to but whether they did or not but they may have voted in those races,” he said.
Coleman says the programming issue was in the routing of the ballots because of the way the precincts are listed. He says all the ballots that were cast up to the point the issue was discovered have been secured and they are going to wait to see the outcome of the election.
“If we get a point where we have something that’s really a closely contested race and we can do something as far as going back and doing a hand count on the ballots that are not supposed to be cast we can do that,” he said.
Teague has some advice for those people who haven’t gone to cast their ballots yet.
“Find your ballot, make sure that you are voting the right ballot," he said. "My wife handed me a ballot before. She said look at this, make sure and I didn’t do it and so she’ll never let me forget it."
The Arkansas Secretary of State and the State Election Commission were both contacted about the programming issue. Crawford County says the issue has been resolved but it is always good to know what races should be on your ballot before you head to the polls.