Company behind ballot issue in St. Clair County also responsible for March ballot error in Jefferson County
The wrong ballots were printed for a precinct in Brighton for the primary election
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Incorrectly printed ballots kept many people in St. Clair County from voting for hours on Election Day. Tuesday morning, poll workers discovered the ballots did not include local amendments after opening the sealed boxes from the printer, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), according to Probate Judge Andrew Weathington, who oversees elections in St. Clair County.
The issue in St. Clair County is similar to what happened in Jefferson County in March during the primary election. The ballots Jefferson County received for the Brighton precinct were incorrect, although the proofs they received from the printer for that precinct were correct.
Most counties across Alabama, including Jefferson and St. Clair, use ES&S for ballot printing.
Alabama law does not require counties use approved vendors to print ballots, but it does require counties use approved vendors for election machines. ES&S and KNOWiNK are the only two approved vendors, according to Jefferson County Probate Judge Jim Naftel.
Judge Naftel met with ES&S officials after its ballot issues in March to talk about how the problem happened, and what could be done to prevent it from happening again.
Judge Naftel said the company blamed “human error” for the issue. Additional data checks were implemented, and the Jefferson County Election Commission now checks every ballot box for accuracy before sending to individual precincts. This is done by verifying the label on each box is consistent with the ballot style requested for the precinct, according to Judge Naftel.
The boxes are not opened until Election Day, but Judge Naftel explained ES&S provides the county with a sample ballot that matches what is in the sealed ballot boxes to be tested ahead of the election.
In St. Clair County, election officials said they contacted ES&S as soon as the ballot errors were discovered, but it took until 1 p.m. for correct ballots to be delivered to the impacted precincts. Those precincts will be open until 9 p.m. to give voters more time to cast their ballots.
An ES&S spokesperson released the following statement:
“St. Clair County, AL, reported to ES&S that the back side of the ballots for two particular ballot styles did not display language for local Amendment One and statewide Amendment One. Approximately 28,000 ballots were affected by this printing error. To immediately remedy the issue, additional ballot stock was delivered to the county so that voters could continue voting using the ADA ExpressVote units. ES&S also immediately began printing replacement ballots to be delivered to the county. ES&S takes responsibility for this unfortunate error and is working to determine the root cause.”
Secretary of State Wes Allen also released a statement regarding the issue:
“My office is aware of the issue in St. Clair county. However, all ballots are proofed, inspected and approved at the local level by the office of the county probate judge and then the county’s selected vendor prints the ballots. That process is not something the Office of the Secretary of State has any jurisdiction or authority over.”
Even still, WBRC asked Allen’s office if he plans to contact ES&S considering these two admitted errors that have interrupted voting in Alabama. His office has not yet responded.
Wednesday morning, Election Systems & Software provided the following updated statement to WBRC regarding the ballot printing issue:
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