The early voting period in Brazos County includes the discovery of 76 people receiving the wrong mail ballot.
According to a Brazos County news release, a voter brought the incorrect ballot to the attention of the elections office.
County officials say the incorrect ballots were due to using a database from the Texas secretary of state’s office, which still had affected voters tied to an old precinct that was changed during redistricting.
Since the discovery, all 3,001 of Brazos County’s mail ballots were checked.
Replacement ballots were mailed to affected voters on Monday by overnight mail. By state law, corrected ballots must be received by November 8 at 7 p.m.
Meantime, early voting in Brazos County from October 24 through October 30 brought out more than 16,000 people. That is a turnout of almost 13 percent. Most of the turnout during the first week, more than 40 percent, went to the College Station Utilities training center. The fewest, six percent, went to Galilee Baptist Church. Early voting continues through November 4 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
News release from the Brazos County:
Seventy-six Brazos County residents who applied to vote by mail are receiving new ballots after it was discovered the first ballot they received was tied to their previous voting precinct.
The Brazos County elections administration uses a database from the Secretary of State’s office when sending out ballots by mail. The State report used to generate the labels for mail-in ballots still had the voter tied to the precinct they were in prior to redistricting. All 3,001 ballot by mail applications received by the Brazos County elections administration office have been checked to ensure all voters received the correct ballot.
Seventy-six replacement ballots were mailed to the affected voters Monday, October 31, 2022.
“We are grateful to the Brazos County voter who brought this to our attention so early in the voting process,” said Elections Administrator Trudy Hancock. “Our staff was able to work over the weekend to isolate the affected addresses and prepare the correct ballots.”
Further review has determined this database issue only affected mail-in ballots, not those choosing to vote in-person. The affected precincts are 10, 12, 29, 32, 36, 40, 41, 55, 63, 64, 66, 73, 74, 75, 80, 88, 89, 103 and 107.
Corrected ballots must be received by 7:00pm Tuesday, November 8, 2022, per TEC 86.009(e).