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Updated: Aug. 11, 6:40 p.m.
Talk about a big whoops! For the upcoming House District 40 Special Election between Democrat RaShon Young and Republican Tuan Le, the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office accidentally printed Travaris McCurdy’s name as the Democratic candidate on sample ballots — and then mailed them out to 88,972 voters.
Young won the June 24 Democratic Special Primary over McCurdy with 55.44 percent of the vote.
The misprint only appears on sample ballots sent to voters who did not request mail-in ballots, according to a press release from the Supervisor of Elections Office sent late this afternoon. Voters who received the incorrect sample ballots are being mailed a new sample ballot and a “notice of printing error.” The cost to print and mail new sample ballots to nearly 89,000 voters is not yet known, Blake Summerlin, a spokesperson for the Supervisor's office, told VoxPopuli in an email.
The Supervisor of Elections emphasized that “all vote-by-mail ballots sent to voters are correct” and that ballots provided during early voting and on Election Day will be correct as well.
“The Orange County Supervisor of Elections office takes full responsibility for this mistake. We have tracked the error and found it originated in our office during artwork creation for the printing process,” Summerlin said.
"In preparing the artwork, a staff member mistakenly listed the wrong Democratic candidate and sent that incorrect file to the printing vendor. The error originated in our office, not with the printer,” Summerlin elaborated in his email. “All mailings go through a detailed proofing process. Unfortunately, this error was not caught during this process. Steps are being taken to strengthen the proofing system to prevent future errors.”
But local Republicans were quick to fan the conspiracy flames.
"Have this ever happen in the history of Orange County? Travaris McCurdy mostly likely won the primary," Belinda Ford, a former candidate for state legislature, commented on Willie J. Montague's Facebook post about the error.
Ford ran unsuccessfully against Democrat State Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis in the 2024 election. Montague is the Republican nominee challenging Bracy Davis in the Sept. 2 State Senate District 15 special election to fill the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson's seat.
"BeBe D. Ford — that’s what I was thinking, this 'error' was really exposure," Montague responded.
Summerlin quashed that notion. "Any claims that this error is part of a conspiracy or that the incorrectly printed candidate won the primary election are unequivocally false," he said in a Monday email to VoxPopuli. "The printing error's origin has been traced and appears only on informational sample ballot mailers sent to certain voters who did not request a vote-by-mail ballot. All official ballots, including vote-by-mail ballots, are correct and list the certified candidate RaShon Young."
VoxPopuli reached out to Montague via Facebook but has not yet received a response. Ford told VoxPopuli Monday via text that "at this moment I would like to keep my thoughts private."
Young told VoxPopuli in a Saturday text, “I spoke directly with Supervisor of Elections Karen Castor Dentel, and she personally apologized for the mistake. I appreciate her taking responsibility and I am grateful for the swift action her office is taking to correct the error. Mistakes can happen, but what matters most is how they are addressed. I trust that her team will continue working to ensure voters in West Orange County have accurate information going into this special election.”
The special election is Sept. 2. The last day to request a mail-in ballot is Aug. 21. Early voting will take place Aug. 23-31. Visit OCFelections.gov for more information.
