(FOX40.COM) — The June 2 primary is just around the corner. In-person early voting started last weekend, but people have been receiving mail-in ballots for weeks now.
However, some Sacramento County voters received more than one ballot.
“If you do receive a reissued ballot, do not cast both of those ballots because you only get one vote and casting that second one is voter fraud,” Ken Casparis with the Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections team said in a one-on-one interview Wednesday afternoon.
With Election Day less than a week away and some hot-button categories on the ballot, some Sacramento County voters have been hitting the polls and others have been hitting the mailbox.
“Just make sure you get out there and vote,” Casparis said. “If you do vote by mail or ballot drop box, make sure you sign your pink ballot envelope.”
However, some voters, like Tony Cox, told FOX40 there was some déjà vu this year on the ballot front. The Sacramento County resident received two ballots ahead of the June 2 primary. He said one came in on May 1 and a second, identical one, came in on May 26.
Casparis explained how this can happen.
“That’ll happen any time there’s a change made to their voter registration,” Casparis clarified. “Whether they change their permanent address, their mailing address, sometimes people see that when they go to the DMV, their voter registration will be changed, so a ballot would be reissued.”
But this does not mean these individuals have a second vote.
“If you receive a reissued ballot, you could go ahead and destroy your first one,” Casparis said. “You could shred it, get rid of it. Only one of your ballots will count, so don’t try and return two of them. We’ll count the first one that we receive that has a matching signature.”
According to Sacramento County, of 917,000 registered voters, there have been an estimated 9,000 reissued ballots — impacting less than 1% of the registered voting population.
This double trouble comes as public skepticism surrounding election processes continues at both the state and national levels. Casparis said his team is committed to transparency and election integrity.
“Our office has measures built into every step of the election process to make sure that they are fair and accurate, and that there is no voter fraud,” Casparis said. “We welcome any of our residents to come observe any of the processes if they’re just curious about how elections are run in Sacramento County.”
He reiterated that returning two ballots is not just futile — as a second vote will not be counted — but it’s against the law.
“I think there’s a lot of mistrust out there,” Casparis said. “So anytime something odd happens, like a ballot being reissued that person may not have expected. It does gain a little bit of traction, but it’s not a very common occurrence and we will only count that first ballot that we receive.”
Nearly 20 polling locations opened in Sacramento County this past week for early, in-person voting. More than 70 will open this coming weekend. Election officials reminded people how important it is to do their part to let their voice be heard.
For a full list of where you can vote in Sacramento County, visit the county’s website.
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