Fresno, California: Ballot Printing Error Mislabels Fresno Unified Trustee Races as Fowler Unified

Fresno County voters who mark their ballots on a machine at a vote center will see the wrong school district name printed on the ballot in three Fresno Unified trustee races, the Fresno County Elections Department said.

The department announced the error on Saturday, Oct. 31, days before the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election. On the screen of a ballot marking device, voters in Fresno Unified Trustee Areas 1, 3 and 4 see the correct contest title. When the ballot prints, the title reads Fowler Unified School District Trustee Areas 1, 3 or 4, naming a different district. A ballot marking device lets a voter make choices on a touchscreen and then prints a paper ballot with those choices marked, ready for the voter to review before it is cast.

Votes still count in the correct race

County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James A. Kus confirmed that the printed ballot still records the voter's choice correctly, and that the vote is counted in the correct Fresno Unified trustee contest, the county said. No other contest on the ballot is affected.

The department said it cannot change how the ballot marking devices print these ballots at this stage of the election. Notices explaining the error will be posted at every ballot marking device in the county's vote centers, so voters see the explanation before they print. The error can appear for any voter in the three trustee areas who uses a device before or on Election Day, according to the county. Vote centers are already open ahead of Election Day, and the county said the notices will stay on the devices through Tuesday.

What Fresno voters can do instead

Voters in Trustee Areas 1, 3 and 4 who do not want to use a ballot marking device can ask for a ballot printed on demand at any vote center. Those ballots do not carry the error, the county said. Vote by mail ballots do not show the error either, ABC30 reported.

Kus apologized for the mistake and asked voters with questions to contact the Elections Department at (559) 600-8683.

The trustee races in Areas 1, 3 and 4 are among the local contests Fresno voters decide in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.