The Lynchburg registrar is calling on voters to double-check the return address on their absentee ballot applications after the office discovered that someone had sent out applications with incorrect information.
Trish Jones, the Lynchburg registrar, said on Friday that her office has received absentee ballot applications from voters that had an incorrect mailing address on the return envelope.
“We’ve already received approximately 50 back,” she said. “The third party, whomever it was, sent out pre-addressed envelopes with the applications, and those pre-addressed envelopes have the wrong post office box as well as the wrong ZIP code on them.”
Jones said they don’t know who or what the group is that sent out the ballot applications with the incorrect return address. The returned applications did not have any identifying information included on them. She added that the Virginia Department of Elections is working to figure out where the applications came from.
Andrea Gaines, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Elections, said that Lynchburg is the only locality that the state department is aware of at this time that has had this issue regarding absentee ballot applications.
“We are not aware of who sent this mailer, but it is common for third parties to send out mailers in general,” Gaines said via email on Monday.
Absentee ballot applications are publicly available online, and Jones said it is possible that the group printed the forms and sent them out to an unknown number of people.
“The deadline for absentee is approaching,” Jones said. “I just don’t want to see any voters get hung out to dry because they mailed something … thinking they’re going to be receiving an absentee ballot in a few days and then all of a sudden the cut-off has passed, we have no application and they have no ballot.”
The fact that any of the incorrectly addressed applications arrived at the registrar’s office at all was a feat of the U.S. Postal Service and a good Samaritan who holds the P.O. box number that was erroneously listed on the envelopes. The owner of that P.O. box returned the applications to the postal service, which cycled them back into the mail delivery system until they landed in the Lynchburg registrar’s mailbox, Jones said.
“Last week I received 20-something and then today when I went to the post office there was 25,” she said. “I don’t know how the person with the post office box is handling that — are they bringing them all back at the same time, are they accumulating them, I don’t know what the scenario is, but the post office is cycling them back to our mailbox.”
She said she’s unsure how many other applications are floating around in the system and whether or not they’ll reach the registrar’s office ahead of the Oct. 23 deadline to apply to receive a mailed absentee ballot.
“We just want voters to be aware,” Jones said.
The registrar’s office encouraged voters who intend to return their completed absentee ballot applications by mail to make sure that their applications are sent to the correct address to help avoid processing delays.
The correct address is:
City of Lynchburg Office of the General Registrar
P.O. Box 10036
Lynchburg, VA 24506
Voters can also apply to vote absentee on the Virginia Department of Elections website: https://vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation/Lookup/absentee
Voters who are concerned that they have already mailed an application using an incorrect address can contact the registrar’s office to confirm the status of their application and determine whether any additional action is needed. Voters can call the Lynchburg Office of the General Registrar at 434-477-5999 or visit the office at 825 Kemper St.
To see who and what is on the ballot in Lynchburg, visit the Lynchburg page on our Voter Guide.
