Republican and Independent voters in Nassau County, New York, were recently shocked to find out they had switched parties after all the mailed voter information cards before an upcoming primary falsely identified every voter as a Democrat.
Every voter in Nassau County, NY listed as ‘Democrat’ after printing ‘error’https://t.co/RqoEUHZUlZ
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 20, 2023
The mistake, which received criticism from local Republican leaders, was made by “human error,” according to Phoenix Graphics, the company responsible for delivering the voting cards.
“Phoenix Graphics Inc. made a human error on Voter Information Cards for Nassau County. The voters’ party affiliation may have been incorrect on the first mailing however polling site information is correct. We take responsibility for that. As soon as it was discovered we moved immediately to remedy the situation,” the company said.
“This is an isolated event, but we apologize for our mistake, especially to Nassau County officials, who bear no responsibility for this problem. We have fixed the error and at no cost to taxpayers will deliver corrected Voter Information Cards as soon as possible,” it added.
According to local outlets, there are over 500,000 non-Democrats in the county, and the mistake will cost approximately $300,000.
“We’re already starting to get phone calls from people, saying ‘I’m a registered Republican, I’m a registered conservative – how come I’m being identified as a Democrat? Who changed my registration?’ And they’re quite upset about it,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said.
The voting cards were mailed out to advise voters of their polling location. But the mistake has upset many.
“There’s a lot of confusion, there’s a lot of people emotionally upset about this,” he added.
Blakeman said he did not believe the error was deliberate or how “nefarious” intentions behind it.
“I don’t think the Democratic Party is engaged in a conspiracy to create havoc in their own primaries,” he said. “I don’t think the Democratic Party wants a bunch of Republicans showing up to vote in their primaries.”
Blakeman, however, said that Nassau County’s Board of Elections would need to review their process to avoid another “disturbing error.”
According to its website, Phoenix Graphics is a company based in Rochester with over 40 years of experience in election-related printing.
Nassau County’s primary elections are scheduled for June 27, 2023.
