BOISE, Idaho — Ada County Elections will reissue some ballots for the May primary election because of two errors -- one involving the Democratic U.S. Senate race, the other affects Democratic and Republican ballots in a legislative race.
The Ada County Elections office said Thursday evening that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Nancy Harris appeared on the Democratic ballot, even though she has withdrawn from the race.
The race for State Representative, Position B, in Legislative District 17 appeared incorrectly on the Democratic and Republican ballots.
The Democratic ballot showed both the Democratic candidate, incumbent Rep. Sue Chew, and the Republican candidate, Anthony T. Dephue. The Republican ballot showed no candidate for the race.
Both Chew and Dephue are running uncontested in their parties' primaries.
Ada County has temporarily stopped issuing ballots to the precincts that are impacted. Beginning Monday new ballots will be issued to the affected voters reflecting the correct candidates for the respective races.
Ada County began mailing ballots on Monday, April 13.
As of Thursday, the county has issued more than 15,000 ballots.
1,073 voters in Legislative District 16 received the ballot with the additional U.S. Senate candidate incorrectly listed.
1,086 voters in Legislative District 17 were issued ballots that contained the state representative error before that error was discovered.
Ada County began mailing ballots on Monday, April 13, and has issued 15,436 total ballots to date. In Legislative District 16, 1,073 voters received the ballot with the additional candidate incorrectly listed. In Legislative District 17, 1,086 voters were issued ballots containing the error before it was discovered. The State Representative, Position B race is uncontested in both the Democratic and Republican primary elections.
Ada Co. Clerk Phil McGrane said in a written statement that his office regrets the impact this has on the candidates and any confusion it has caused for voters.
"In a primary election like this, we have 717 unique ballot types and we have been working around the clock to shift our operations to accommodate the changes in this unique all-mail election. We appreciate the community's patience with the process," McGrane said.
The primary, set for May 19, is for congressional, state legislative and county races. Idaho's presidential primary took place on March 10.
