A sample ballot and voter information pamphlet sent to Malibu voters contains errors and should not be used, according to election officials in Santa Monica.
Sarah Gorman, City Clerk/Director of Records & Elections for the City of Santa Monica, released the following statement:
“The County of Los Angeles and the City of Santa Monica have discovered an error in the Santa Monica Supplemental Sample Ballot and Voter Information Pamphlet that was sent to City of Malibu voters. The error involves incorrect ballot position numbering of the Board of Education candidates and Measure ES on the ballot.
Voters should ONLY use the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Vote By Mail Instruction Guide or Sample Ballot.”
According to Gorman, the numbers for each candidate and Measure ES are incorrect on the city sample ballot, but that the county's version is correct.
Election day is Nov. 6.
This phone call stated that the correct ballot hole numbers for the Santa Monica school board races and Measure ES are in the 140-148 range. The incorrect Sample Ballot has numbers in the 184-192 range. The phone call said the clerk is working with county elections officials on a solution. It would appear that the only voters who cast ballots in the wrong number range would be those who ignored the printed alignment on the mail-in ballot and instead worked off the City of Santa Monica sample ballot -- an unlikely, but possible combination. LA County ballots have lots of blank numbers. It would appear that an overvote at ballot hole 140 would mean an undervote at 184, where the erroneous SM ballots start. The question is, is it within state law for such a transposition correction to be made?