A pair of miscues at the print shop that prepared ballots for La Plata Electric Association’s election of board members next month have been corrected, and election material will be mailed Wednesday.
A jammed stuffing machine that forced employees at Basin Printing & Imaging to insert ballots in envelopes by hand left 735 LPEA customers in District 4 with last names starting P through S with a secrecy sleeve and return envelope but no ballot.
Then, 364 residents of District 2 received ballots with the names of District 1 candidates.
Diana Hammond, an owner of Basin Printing & Imaging, said the errors have been rectified. Overall, 3½ percent of about 32,000 ballots were affected, she said.
“We have a solution,” Hammond said. “Ballots will be mailed directly to LPEA customers on Wednesday.”
The words Supplemental Ballot in red lettering will be found on envelopes, she said.
LPEA executive director Mike Dreyspring said it was important to keep the election on track. LPEA heard immediately from customers who didn’t get a ballot or who received an incorrect one, he said.
“The level of participation of our customers in elections made it real important to get this critical issue resolved,” Dreyspring said.
Members of the election supervisory committee had the choice of correcting what went wrong or sending new ballots to some 32,000 members, Dreyspring said.
The results of the election to fill four board seats will be announced at the LPEA annual meeting May 16.
daler@durangoherald.com
