Tennessee election officials said that the hundreds of citizens who voted in incorrect congressional races due to a redistricting mishap will be able to cast provisional ballots on Election Day and vowed to get down to the root cause of the mistake – once the elections are over.
The Davidson County Election Commission told FOX17 Nashville that 438 voters were impacted by the mistake and that officials have been working “endless hours” to check voters’ precincts and ensure they have the correct ballots for Tuesday’s election.
“Now, in order to do that, some individuals may vote, instead of voting on the voting machines, you will be offered a yellow envelope that has your name on it with your specific ballot inside,” Jeff Roberts, Nashville’s election administrator, told the station.
Roberts said that officials will have to wait until after Tuesday to determine how voters cast their ballots in the wrong districts.
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Election officials confirmed more than 200 votes were cast in the wrong races in Nashville since early voting began. Those who cast votes in wrong districts will be able to cast provisional ballots on Election Day.
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“We will then sit down and see what caused the issue to begin with, you know, ‘where did it originate?’ So that when we do re-districting again in 10 years, we don’t go through this issue, with the voters getting in the wrong, misassigned precinct,” Roberts said.
Election officials have scrambled for days to correct Davidson County’s voting system after The Associated Press reported first that nearly 200 Tennesseans had voted in the incorrect congressional races, while 16 cast votes in a wrong state Senate race and six cast votes in a wrong state House race.
Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers split up multiple precincts throughout Davidson County while redrawing Nashville’s congressional maps in hopes of flipping a Democratic seat.
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As a result, voters now live in splintered precincts, and some have been incorrectly grouped in the wrong district. But according to the county, no issues surrounding ballots being cast in the wrong race were raised during the primary, which took place in August.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
