Brighton polling precinct staying open two hours later due to ballot issues

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Jefferson County Probate Judge Jim Naftel says incorrect ballots were sent to the Brighton Community Center this morning due to having the wrong ballots. This is a part of District 7, but instead, they received ballots for District 4, causing issues for almost a dozen voters.

Now, the center will remain open until 9:30 to give voters who couldn’t cast their ballots an opportunity to.

Judge Naftel says there are about 1,700 voters in this area, and less than ten voted using the wrong ballot style. Once officials realized that a handful were turned away while they worked to print off new ballots and deliver them.

He says this was simply a mistake. They will work to find out what happened, but right now, they are focused on problem-solving and making sure everyone in the area gets an opportunity to cast their votes.

“People were saying that they felt their vote was suppressed by not being able to vote in Brighton or that they were being disenfranchised,” says Naftel. “I would just ask voters to please understand that is never the intention of the Jefferson County election team. We do want to acknowledge that mistakes happen, and we work as hard as we can to get those fixed as fast as we can.”

WBRC LATEST VIDEO

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.