Human error to blame for Fresno County ballot blunder that left 11 voters with wrong ballots

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County election officials have confirmed that human error is to blame for a ballot blunder that left at least 11 voters with the wrong ballot.

"I feel like I'm a disenfranchised voting person," Rick Steitz told Action News. He lives in Fresno City Council District 2, but his ballot included the race for District 6.

"It showed that Roger Bonakdar and Nick Richardson were on the ballot as my councilmembers," Steitz said.

Action News reviewed the election materials Steitz received. Both his practice ballot and vote-by-mail ballot were wrong. The ballot he cast at a vote center, he says, was incorrect, too.

"I assumed that the district boundaries had changed," Steitz said.

It was not until Election Night -- after Steitz voted -- when he realized there was a mistake. He contacted the Fresno County Elections Office on November 6.

"They were going to refer my inquiry to the IT department," Steitz said. "I asked them, 'Well, what would they have to do with anything?' 'Well, they're going to do an investigation.' I said, 'There's no investigation to be done. I even got the evidence in my hand.'"

Steitz never heard back, so he contacted Action News on Monday. We went to Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus. Within hours, he confirmed the error.

"We did identify 11 people that this happened to," Kus said. He explained that an election system flagged about a thousand addresses that showed conflicting precincts. A human then had to verify each one -- a process that failed for at least 11.

"They were actually assigned to an incorrect registration precinct," Kus said. "And because of that, that meant they got an incorrect ballot."

Dr. Lisa Bryant studies election administration at Fresno State. She says the human review would have been a tedious process including address checks for various races.

"They're ultimately checking that these individuals are getting the correct ballot for each of the districts that they live in," Bryant said. "So it can be a complicated and onerous process."

Bryant says there will always be some degree of error. The county investigation is still underway as Kus tries to understand the scope.

"So, it could grow?" Action News asked.

"It is possible," Kus said. "We are not aware, at this time, of any other voter that is affected by this issue."

Kus expects to have an update by Friday. In the meantime, Steitz says he has more questions than answers and wants to know whether he can vote again.

Since ballots are cast in secret, though, Kus says there is no way to go back and correct the mistake.

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