Applications for absentee ballots that went to millions of Virginia voters — and in some cases, contained incorrect information — didn’t come from state or local election offices, officials said Thursday.
Instead, the unsolicited applications came from a third party that aims to boost voter participation for the upcoming Nov. 3 elections.
Stephanie Iles, Norfolk’s voter registrar, said many voters have been left confused and frustrated by the mailings and her office has been fielding calls about them non-stop since Wednesday afternoon.
Some voters had already requested a ballot for the November election and wondered whether this letter meant they had to apply again. Others were worried about who was sending them election material in the first place.
“People were concerned that it was a scam,” Iles said.
The Virginia Department of Elections sent out a statement Thursday to tell voters the letters were actually coming from a third-party group not affiliated with the state elections office.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the Washington-based Center for Voter Information group had mailed out 2.25 million applications for absentee ballots to voters across Virginia.
The Center for Voter Information is a nonpartisan group aimed at increasing voter participation. The Washington-based nonprofit was founded and is run by former Democratic strategists, according to the Post.
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The group wrote on its Facebook page late Wednesday that some of the mailings included return envelopes with incorrect addresses for some residents’ registrar’s offices, particularly in the Fairfax area of Northern Virginia. The Post reported that as many as a quarter of the mailings the group sent out included incorrect addresses.
And lles said some of the wording in the mailing may lead people astray.
“The letter said that the Virginia Dept of Elections encourages everyone — and ‘everyone’ is in all caps — to vote absentee in the upcoming elections. People are thinking that is the only way they can vote now because of this,” Iles said.
Applications like those mailed by the Center for Voter Information are one option to get an absentee ballot, Iles said, though she recommends using the Department of Election’s website to request one.
And voters will, at this point, be able to vote in multiple ways this election day. Mail-in absentee voting is one. In-person voting, both absentee and on Election Day, will also be options, Iles said.
“There’s a right way to do this,” Iles said. “I get they’re trying to increase voter turnout, but it’s creating voter confusion the way it was done.”
Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com