Sample ballot error confuses Franklin voters
A misprint in a sample ballot set out to Franklin County voters has gotten a lot of folks scratching their heads.
In a mailing sent out earlier this month to all of the county’s roughly 7,100 registered voters, the candidates for county tax collector were mistakenly listed as Republican Ashley Lister Forehand and Democrat Candye Lewis.
The only problem is, those two women are running for tax collector in Gulf County, not in Franklin County.
What it should have read was Republican Amy Braxton Cook, and Teresa Martin, who is running with no party affiliation, are the two candidates for Franklin County tax collector.
Franklin County Supervisor of Elections Heather Riley stressed that the error occurred only on the sample ballot, but did not occur on the vote by mail ballots, commonly known as the absentee ballots.
“It’s just a misprint at the printers, human error by an out-of-state printing company,” she said. “We proofed it and we missed it. As soon as we caught it, we reprinted them. The vote by mail ballots are fine.”
She said that a revised version of these ballots, which are labeled on the front as “Your official sample ballot enclosed,” will soon be sent to that same batch of voters countywide.
Interestingly, in very small print at the bottom, it reads that “This is a ‘SAMPLE’ ballot for informative purposes only. Please study this sample ballot and use it as a guide for voting. This is not an ‘Official’ ballot. DO NOT return this to the Elections Office.”
The sample ballot includes a listing of all federal and state candidates and ballot measures, as well as all countywide candidates and ballot measures. It also includes a listing for the Carrabelle mayoral race, which will only be voted on by voters within the city of Carrabelle, and for the District 3 county commission race, which will only be voted on by voters within the city of Apalachicola.
Riley said she has not yet discussed with the printer who will cover the costs of the second mailing.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.