What To Do If You Received An Incorrect Absentee Ballot In NYC

BROOKLYN, NY — An estimated 100,000 voters in Brooklyn have received absentee ballots with the wrong envelope or typos as New York City struggles to kick off its mail-in voting for the November 3 elections.

"To say we’re troubled by this is the understatement of the year," Melissa DeRosa, one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top aides, said Tuesday.

DeRosa estimated that 100,000 ballots had been sent with errors mainly in Brooklyn, though there is the possibility of "spillover in other ZIP codes." The New York City Board of Elections has blamed on the vendor hired to print and mail the ballots for voters in Brooklyn and Queens.

The problem ballots include those that were sent with the wrong names and addresses on the return envelopes and a number of ballots marked with"Official Absentee Military Ballot" instead of "Official Absentee / Military Ballot," leading voters to believe they had received a ballot designated for only military personnel.

How New Yorkers who received the ballots should proceed depends on which error was made on their form.

Here's what you should know:

Absentee Ballots Marked As "Official Absentee Military Ballot"

These ballots are still valid, despite the typo. Even if you are not a member of the military, the New York City Board of Elections has stated that this is the correct ballot and can be sent in as is.

Absentee Ballots With The Incorrect Return Envelope

These ballots should not be used, according to the Board of Elections.

The Board of Elections is working on sending ballots with new envelopes to those that received the mismatched versions. To do so, they need to identify everyone who was given the wrong envelope.

Voters should contact the BOE by emailing Apply4Absentee@boe.nyc, calling 1-866-VOTE-NYC or sending a direct message to the board on Twitter.

Some voters have also headed to NYC BOE offices to return the ballots in person to avoid long waits on the phone, according to a local community board. The Brooklyn BOE office is at 345 Adams St. The Queens office is at 118-35 Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills.