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After vendor error, county urges voters to return replacement mail‑in ballots only
Summary
County Executive Marc Elrich said the state will not count ballots mailed in the original vendor batch and urged voters to submit the replacement ballot clearly marked by the state; he said the county will invite the local Board of Elections to brief reporters next week.
At the weekly media briefing, reporters asked about a vendor error that affected mail‑in ballots for an upcoming election. WAMU reporter Jenny Abamu asked whether the county had heard concerns about mail‑in voting after previous high mail‑in participation.
Elrich said the state will not process ballots from the original mailing and that election officials are sending a second, replacement ballot marked on the envelope and ballot as the only valid ballot to be counted. "So make sure you are only sending in the ballot that you got the second time that is pretty much marked this is a replacement ballot," Elrich said, urging voters not to return earlier ballots.
He acknowledged the error was unusual and promised to invite a representative from the local Board of Elections to the next briefing so reporters can ask detailed questions about what the board is doing to secure mail‑in voting this year. "I'm going to bring the election board on next week," he said.
Elrich also offered to help reporters contact the Montgomery County Board of Elections or the State Board of Elections for more information.
The briefing did not include detailed technical information about the vendor failure, and the county executive deferred to the election boards for operational questions.
