Wrong Madera County voters sent ballots by elections office

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Madera County Elections office is working to correct a ballot error that affects some Mountain-area voters.

Ballots including two bond measures for a local school district were delivered to people living outside the district.

The office says only a small number of voters living right outside the Raymond-Knowles area received those ballots.

Those who haven't mailed their ballots out will get new ones.

Meanwhile, those who already returned theirs will not have their votes counted for measures that, the school district says, could help with some much-needed upgrades.

About 80 students grades K through eighth attend Raymond-Knowles Union Elementary in Raymond.

Superintendent Michelle Townsend says the school is outdated and even smaller than the student body.

"We are expected to do all the same things larger school districts are for our students and that is very difficult on such small funds," says Townsend.

A new opportunity is now on the horizon.

"We have never asked, we have never done a bond measure ever," says Townsend.

The school district has two bonds on the ballot this year - Measure P for a brand new multi-purpose room and Measure Q, to modernize classrooms and upgrade other facilities.

But there's a slight hiccup when it comes to voting - ballots with their bond measure were sent to people outside their voting district.

"I think it is a very small issue that I really don't think is going to have an impact on the election whatsoever," says Justin White of the Madera County Clerks Office.

White says about 300 ballots were sent to voters outside the Raymond-Knowles area.

They quickly caught the error and within two days sent out replacements.

White reassures the community that any ballot with an ineligible vote on Measures P and Q will not be counted.

"There's no harm there, we are going to go ahead and process the ballots, we just won't count their votes on P and Q only. There votes on every other contest of course will count."

Townsend says she doesn't think the ballot mix-up will effect how the nearly 700 people in her district will vote.

As a reminder, ballots must be turned in by March 3rd in order to be counted.