Riverside County mailed out 5,000 duplicate ballots in error

About 5,000 individuals in Riverside County will obtain duplicate vote-by-mail ballots for the November midterm election after a “laptop system error,” however the mistake gained’t permit voters to forged ballots twice, in line with the county registrar.

The pc error was caught over the weekend, however not earlier than 5,000 mail-in ballots had been despatched to voters residing in Canyon Lake, Menifee, Murrieta, Wildomar and Winchester, mentioned Rebecca Spencer, the Riverside County registrar of voters.

Spencer advisable anybody who receives an identical ballots to destroy the additional copy.

“You will need to observe that not one of the duplicate ballots will lead to a voter with the ability to forged a couple of poll,” Spencer mentioned in a information launch. “I take election integrity critically and apologize for the inconvenience.”

Every vote-by-mail envelope has a novel bar code that, as soon as scanned, will robotically lock a voter’s file so a second poll can’t be accepted, Spencer mentioned. If a voter returns each ballots, solely the primary can be processed and the second can be “robotically voided.”

Spencer mentioned the pc error is “resolved and procedures have been put in place to forestall the error sooner or later.”

The mishap comes months after the Riverside County Board of Supervisors accredited a brand new residents committee centered on election integrity, which might make suggestions to enhance the voting course of.

Although some election vigilantes within the county have claimed widespread voter fraud in current elections, an in-depth investigation by the district lawyer final 12 months discovered just one case of voter fraud from the 2016 election, after pursuing tons of of false leads. There was no proof of widespread voter fraud within the U.S. in recent times, regardless of rising claims of such.

All registered voters, in Riverside and throughout the state, ought to obtain a vote-by-mail poll for the Nov. 8 election, however voters may also forged ballots in particular person or return accomplished ballots to any voting location.

California voters are making their picks in quite a lot of native and statewide races, together with for governor, and on seven statewide propositions.