In Orange County, the race for the House District 40 seat is off to a confusing start after a notable misprint on sample ballots. The Orange County Supervisor of Elections' office admitted to a printing error affecting over 88,000 sample ballots that incorrectly listed the Democratic candidate. Instead of showcasing RaShon Young, who won the Democratic special primary on June 24, the name of Travaris McCurdy, the defeated opponent, was mistakenly printed.
Caught in the middle of overseeing the election's integrity, the Supervisor of Elections' office is scrambling to rectify the error that occurred during the creation of the ballot artwork. Mailed to voters who didn't request a vote-by-mail option, these erroneous sample ballots were initially thought to guide them through the voting process. Instead, they carried a blip that could steer voters the wrong way, as noted by ClickOrlando.
The oversight was acknowledged, and measures to correct it were promptly announced. "The Orange County Supervisor of Elections office takes full responsibility for this mistake," said Blake Summerlin, a spokesperson for the Supervisor of Elections, in a quote detailed by Florida Politics. "The office is taking immediate action to correct it by mailing a 'Notice of Printing Error' to all affected voters, along with a rectified Sample Ballot."
Ensuring accuracy on actual ballots, the Supervisor's office confirmed that the vote-by-mail and in-person voting ballots list the certified candidates correctly. Young is set to contest against Republican Tuan Le, an engineer and former congressional candidate, as well as Christopher Hall, a write-in candidate, in the upcoming Special General Election on September 2. Affected voters should receive the correct sample ballot before the start of early voting on August 23.
Additional measures to enhance the proofing system have been promised by the SOE's office to avoid future mistakes, per ClickOrlando. The office is also slated to meet to dissect the mishap further and to outline steps for improvement. However, specifics, including the cost of reprinting and distributing the corrected sample ballots, have not been released yet.
