Overview
- A printing and coding mistake by contractor Taylor Print & Visuals led officials to send replacement mail‑in ballots to every voter who requested one because they could not identify who received the wrong‑party ballots.
- State election administrators voided and quarantined the original mailed ballots and added unique return identifiers to replacement envelopes to ensure only one ballot per voter is counted.
- Election offices began reviewing returned mail‑in ballots this week, but Baltimore City paused canvassing because it had received only a small fraction of replacement ballots needed to proceed.
- The vendor accepted responsibility and agreed to pay reprinting and notice costs while the episode has triggered requests for records from the House committee and calls for a Justice Department review.
- Officials urge voters who received a replacement to use it and return it promptly, and they warn that if both an original and a replacement are returned election staff will count only one vote.