sample ballots are printed

[lostinblue 1,989]

A vote for Republican Carl Paladino could actually be a vote for Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins - if you follow the directions printed on the November ballot.

In what appears to be yet another "royal screwup," the city Board of Elections printed a sample ballot that instructs voters to fill the "oval above" a candidate's name.

The correct oval is actually below each candidate's name.

"This is a problem that should have been caught ahead of time," said Larry Norden at the Brennan Center for Justice, which sussed out the snafu. "It may be too late to fix the ballot before the Nov. 2 elections."

Without acknowledging the goof, the Board of Elections quickly issued a statement saying instructions specifying that voters "need to fill in the oval below the candidate name they wish to vote for" would be placed in the privacy booths on election day.

Also, palm cards with instructions that include a photo of a correctly marked oval will be distributed at polling sites, Board spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez-Rivera noted.

Neal Rosenstein, voting coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group, said the error won't have a large impact on voters because most don't even read the instructions.

"Still, in a very close election that comes down to a handful of votes, that could affect the outcome," Rosenstein said.

Meanwhile, the 4 million how-to-vote mailers the Board spent $1.1 million on were getting poor reviews from some senior citizens, who complained they were hard to open.

Vazquez-Rivera said they have received no complaints about the mailer, which was designed to increase New Yorkers' familiarity with the new voting machines after many people had trouble using them in the September primary.

That election had so many glitches Mayor Bloomberg deemed it a "royal screwup."

The Board took more flak earlier this month for failing to ship absentee ballots to New York troops serving overseas in a timely fashion.

flombardi@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/22/2010-10-22_its_royal_screwup_redux_as_sample_ballots_are_printed_with_wrong_instructions_el.html#ixzz13OoMe1S8