A wide swath of voters across Long Beach and Los Angeles County got emails or text messages Tuesday telling them they had just one more week to turn in their ballots — the only problem being there was no election for them to vote in.
“This is a message from the California Secretary of State on behalf of Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters about the Election,” the message said, before reminding voters that they had until 8 p.m. on Election Day to drop off their ballot.
The message was sent in error through the California Secretary of State’s BallotTrax system, which lets voters opt-in for reminders and follow along as their ballots are received and counted, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office.
They said the message was intended for voters in Orange County’s 36th state Senate District, which has a special election scheduled for Feb. 25. Instead, it went to “nearly all” LA County voters who are subscribed to the BallotTrax system, according to the Registrar-Recorder’s office, which manages county elections.
Steve Olsen, the president of BallotTrax, told the Los Angeles Times that the reminder should’ve gone out to only about 100,000 voters — including portions of Kern and Tulare counties that also have special elections planned — but was sent to a much larger segment because of “a geo-targeting error.”
BallotTrax, a Denver-based company, has worked with the California Secretary of State’s office since 2020, according to the Times.
BallotTrax and state elections officials are investigating, and voters should expect “a follow-up notification explaining the error,” the Long Beach City Clerk’s office said in a statement.