A state elections mailer sent to around 25,000 voters incorrectly directed Town of Herndon, Vienna and Clifton voters to the wrong polling locations.
The letter directs Town of Herndon residents should vote at a new location nearly thirty minutes away from the town: the Stacey C. Sherwood Community Center in the City of Fairfax.
The Virginia Department of Elections said incorrect polling locations were sent was due to a “printing issue.”
“Following the redistricting process, the Department of Elections mailed over 6 million voter notices to all registered voters in the Commonwealth. A second mailing of 176,000 notices was sent to voters whose original notice did not include their town district number or who had a P.O. Box,” the department wrote in a statement.
Fairfax County Director of Elections Eric Spicer said the county is working to correct the state’s mistake.
“To correct the state’s mistake, the county’s Office of Elections will be mailing these voters a personalized letter stating their correct polling place,” Spicer wrote in a statement.
Residents in the towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico were also impacted.
Last night, state delegate Irene Shin, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, and State Sen. Jennifer Boysko called on the elections department to immediate correct the error last night.
“I am disappointed that the Virginia Department of Elections continues to issue incorrect notices to voters. This is not the first major incident during this important election season. I urge the Department of Elections to work quickly to restore the public’s faith in our election system.”
Shin also called on the elections department to provide a “full explanation about how this obvious error occurred.”
The state’s elections department did not immediately return a request for comment on the nature of the printing issue.