Local voters report issues with mail-in ballots

Nearly t10,000 people have requested to vote by mail.

Those ballots pass through many hands before being counted.

Local voters say they've had some issues in the process.

Of tippecanoe county residents are choosing to vote by mail.

And there's been some mixups along the way.

News 18's joe paul has spoken to the county clerk and concerned voters.

He joins us live to tell us what's gone right and wrong.

Nearly ten-thousand people have requested to vote by mail.

Those ballots pass through many hands before being counted.

And local voters tell us they've had some issues in the process.

< "i just want people to know to look at their ballot, read the instructions carefully, see that the ballot is gonna be counted."

That's diane gray's message to local mail-in voters.

Gray says that the ballot she requested wasn't initialed by the county election board.

"i want people to watch for that detail because i know we get complacent, we don't read instructions like we should, and if those initials aren't on there, it says the ballot can't be counted."

Tippecanoe county clerk julie roush says that mail-in ballots pass through many hands before they're counted.

And that process comes with human error.

"it does go through several checks here, but sometimes the ballots do stick together.

We think we got it, and it goes out in the mail.

That happens."

Roush says an unprecedented amount of people are voting absentee.

And each and every ballot must be initialed twice before they're mailed to voters.

"so you're talking about flipping through thousands of ballots, and we do that.

But we gotta do it.

There's a purpose for that and that's security to make sure nobody's duplicated our ballots."

Wayne buck says he has no intention to vote absentee.

But he received another voter's ballot in the mail by mistake.

"i tnk we could have a lot of mistakes this year because post office and election boards are overrun with this covid-19 going on."

Gray and buck say that their issues were resolved quickly.

But roush says that early voting is safe for anyone with concerns about their ballot being counted.

"we've always said this: the more hands that touch a ballot, you have a larger opportunity of some error in somway, and that's why we do offer to vote in person."

Gray tells me she's happy with how the election board resolved her problem.

But she had to make a trip to the county building.

Which she says defeats the purpose of voting by mail.

But roush tells me that many voters have hand-delivered their ballots.

That's because they're concerned the paperwork won't make it to the election board.

She says voters should call the election board if they see any issues.

Reporting live in lafayette, joe paul, news 18.

Indiana voters have one week until registration ends.

The tippecanoe