Romana Young, Chairperson of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, is looking for answers. Young is concerned after a 75-year-old woman came forward saying her mail-in ballot had gotten wet in the mail and was damaged as the ballot was stuck to its envelope. Young is concerned if woman will get a replacement ballot in time to cast a vote for the November 3 election.
The Examiner asked Young says her message to Jefferson County Clerk Roxanne Acosta Hellberg "Give us a deadline. We are asking for information, because in her statement there was a lot of information she did not include." Young says the deadline to apply for a replacement mail-in ballot is Friday, October 23. A voter opening a ballot after that date will have no way left to vote by mail.
Jefferson County Clerk Roxanne Acosta Hellberg released the following statement:
We have been notified of a concern regarding damage that occurred on delivery of mail ballots during
a heavy rain in our area. Our office has a procedure in place to address this with voters. We want to
assure our voters that they have options.
Option 1: you can surrender the ballot at the polling location, we have several hundred that do this at
every election. After surrendering the ballot the voter can vote on the machine. Option 2: We will
gladly replace the damaged ballot. The ballot package must be physically returned to our office so that
the ballot can be voided. A new ballot package will be mailed to the voter from our vendor. 2700+
ballots have been mailed, we have 3 that have followed option 2 and their new ballot package is being
sent by the vendor.
For all mail ballot voters, mail ballots must be postmarked by November 3 rd and received at our office
by close of business November 4 th .
We have already received 500+ mail ballots that are scheduled for review on October 14th by the Early
Voting Ballot Board. We are well ahead of schedule.
Acosta-Hellberg told The Examiner out of 2,700 mail in ballots, three were damaged. And she also has visited with the woman that came. forward on two occasions.
Mail in