Ballot misprint sparks confusion

MAT-SU -- Matanuska Electric Association members seeking to mail in their ballots may experience a little confusion when they read instructions printed on a ballot envelope.

After the ballots and accompanying information was printed, said Mike Pauley, a spokesman for MEA, staff realized there was a mistake on the ballot instructions.

MEA members generally receive four components when they get their ballots in the mail -- a voting information packet, a ballot, a secrecy envelope and a return envelope. Like absentee voting for municipal and statewide elections, voters are asked to cast their votes on the ballot and place the ballot inside a secrecy envelope. That envelope is then placed inside a return envelope and voters are asked to sign the return envelope so their identity as an MEA member can be verified before their ballot is counted.

But after receiving their annual co-op election ballots in the mail this week, some MEA members noticed a change -- the instructions printed on the secrecy envelope asked voters to, "please make sure you have marked, signed and enclosed your ballot." There isn't a place for a signature on the ballot, and signing a ballot would reveal who voted for whom, so some have called the misprint a significant mistake.

"We had a few people call," Pauley said. "Some wanted to know where on the ballot they're supposed to sign."

Pauley said those who mistakenly sign the ballot won't be sacrificing their secrecy to many -- the ballots, he said, are only seen by the accounting firm and election committee who review the ballots and the ballots are destroyed shortly after the election results have been confirmed. But MEA staff received a memo Tuesday outlining what instructions to give those who call with questions about where to sign the ballot. The memo has three points:

No signature is required on the ballot or on the inner, or secrecy envelope. The only signature required is the signature of the MEA member on the outside of the return envelope.

The secret vote will be preserved. The ballots will only be seen by the election committee and the CPA reviewing the ballots.

No ballot will be invalidated because it bears a signature. Every returned ballot in which the outer envelope is signed by a current MEA member will be counted.

About 9,000 members, or between one-quarter and one-third of MEA's overall membership, typically vote in the elections, he said, and so far about a dozen people have called, questioning the instructions. Pauley said he did not expect many MEA members would be confused by the mistake.