News/Commentary

‘Human error’ turns every registered voter in GOP-leaning NY county into a Dem: ‘They’re quite upset’

May 21, 2023 | | Print Article

More than 500,000 registered voters in Nassau County, New York, discovered that, despite their decision to declare themselves a Republican or a member of another party, the county’s Board of Elections wants them to know they are, in fact, registered with the Democratic Party.

Mailers were sent out to inform more than half of all registered voters in the county of their new party, while registered Democrats could rest easy in the knowledge that they were correctly enrolled, according to ABC7.


(Video: ABC7)

While the Nassau County Board of Elections, county executive, and attorney are investigating how the error occurred, they all agree that the blame lies with the printing company.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman addressed the mix-up in an attempt to calm angry voters in the Republican-leaning county.

“I want to let the public know that we are aware of this circumstance and that we have been assured that this situation is going to be resolved,” Blakeman said.

Himself a Republican, Blakeman said Republican and Conservative voters have been blowing up his phone since the mailers went out.

“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?'” he said, adding, “And they’re quite upset about it.”

“There’s a lot of confusion,” Blakeman added. “There’s a lot of people emotionally upset about this.”

The Board of Elections used a Rochester-based mailing house vendor by the name of Phoenix Graphics, Blakeman explained, and he believes the error was their fault.

Though the snafu occurred roughly one month before the primaries, Blakeman said he doesn’t believe the Democratic Party is “engaged in a conspiracy to create havoc in their own primaries.”

“I don’t think the Democratic Party wants a bunch of Republicans showing up to vote in their primaries,” he said.

New cards will be reissued on Tuesday, Jim Scheuerman, Nassau County Democratic Elections Commissioner, assured voters.

“This was a printing error on the part of the vendor,” he said. “The cards are being reissued today with an apology from the vendor and the correct Party information. All voter information is accurate in our system, this [is] purely a vendor error that is quickly being rectified.”

It’s no small blunder.

To fix the mistake, the printing company will have to cough up approximately $300,000.

In the meantime, Phoenix Graphics released a “mea culpa” statement:

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. 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.

Mineola resident Amura Dillon is skeptical.

“That’s neglect, a company that’s sending out an important document like that?” Dillon said. “That’s not good.”

Twitter users are skeptical, too.

“Soooo…… A printing error by the printer, ehhhh????” asked one user. “This printer would by any chance be a major Democrat donor would they??????”

“Funny how all these ‘accidents’ happen in one direction… they always seem to benefit Democrats…” noted another.

“Yea, right!” exclaimed a third. “Human error my a**.”

Melissa Fine
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