Your Stories Q&A: Did Onondaga County mail ballots to people who didn’t request one?

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – You ask, we answer!

Viewer Question: Is it true that Onondaga County sent early mail ballots to people who didn’t request one and now these people won’t be able to vote in person on November 5th?

The Onondaga County Board of Elections does confirm that about 200 people received a general election ballot in the mail that they didn’t request.

“ On Thursday October 3rd our office started to receive sporadic reports from voters that they received a vote by mail ballot that they did not request.  We immediately notified the NY State Board of elections and opened an investigation into the matter.  We found that 188 voters who requested a vote by mail ballot during the June primary were wrongly issued ballots.  This was the result of bad data that migrated over from our previous registration system during a transition in August and these voters were not caught by our audit team …” Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said in a statement.

According to the New York State Board of Elections, those who are issued an early mail ballot are not allowed to cast a ballot on a voting machine on election day. A person can still vote in person using an affidavit ballot.

“The affidavit ballot will be kept separate until the election is completed. Election officials will verify whether the voter’s early mail, accessible, or absentee ballot has been received. If the voter’s ballot has been received, the affidavit ballot will not be counted. If the voter’s ballot has not been received, the affidavit ballot will be counted.” the NYS Board of Elections said on its website.

However, in this unique case, Czarny said those who wrongly received an early by mail ballot will still have the option to vote by machine on election day.

“… We are contacting each voter by mail and by any means we have on file to advise them of their rights to ensure they can properly cast their vote this election.  They will be allowed to vote by mail if they choose by filling out an application or vote in person on the machine at an election day or Early Voting polling place. We have flagged these voters in our system and will take special care in making sure that their rights our protected ,” Czarny said in a statement.

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