Brookline Sends Wrong Mail-In Ballots Ahead Of Primary

BROOKLINE, MA — Some Brookline voters were mailed the wrong ballots for the upcoming state primary, Town Administrator Mel Kleckner confirmed late Wednesday night. Although the town has had to resend some 30 ballots to voters, it's not clear just how many of the 7,000 ballots the town has sent were incorrect.

So now the town is asking that any Brookline voters who requested and got mail-in ballots recently in the mail check to ensure they've received the primary ballot for the party they requested.

And officials said they are working "aggressively" to investigate and correct the problem before the state primary on Sept. 1.

"We regret this error and are working collaboratively with the Secretary of State's Office to understand how it happened and are committed to correcting it to ensure that every voter who wishes to vote in the upcoming state primary is able to do so," Kleckner said in a statement.

The error comes as the president has repeatedly raised — unsubstantiated— fears that mail-in voting will be marred by fraud. Across Massachusetts voters are expected to more widely use the new option in both the primaries and the November election out of concern for safety given the pandemic.

Some 30 voters notified the town clerk's office that the mail-in ballots they received were not the party ballot they requested. The clerk's office is in the process of mailing the correct party ballots to those voters, officials said.

The town clerk's office only found out about the mistake Tuesday, and then reported the error to the Elections Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

The office will now have to work with the state to review how that happened. In the two days since Brookline found out, office staff have been re-trained and procedures have been modified to ensure that correct ballots are mailed out going forward.

Approximately 7,000 ballots have been mailed to voters to date, according to town officials.

The party ballot requested is indicated by an "R" for Republican, "D" for Democrat, "G" for Green or "I" for Independent on the mailing label in the lower right hand corner of the envelope containing the ballot.

The ballot inside the envelope should match the indicated party affiliation. Voters may review the sample ballot for their party and precinct online here to ensure the one they've received is correct.

If you received the wrong ballot, call the town clerk's office at 617-730-2010.

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