Terry Thompson had an election to run for voters in Cascade County, Montana. Why then, she thought, was her office in Great Falls being sent mailed ballots completed by voters in places such as Wasilla, Alaska Vancouver, Washington and Tampa, Florida?
It was only about a dozen ballots total from voters in other states. But she said it still raised concerns about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver election mail and whether the errant ballots would ever be counted.
"I mean, I would have had to been doing FedEx overnight envelopes to all these states to try to get them where they needed to go," said Thompson, the county's election administrator.
She received about a half dozen others that should have gone to county election offices in other parts of Montana. For those, she said she "just had to hope and pray" they made it back on time.
While a stray ballot ending up in the wrong place can happen during election season, the number of ballots destined for other states and counties that ended up at Thompson's office is unusual. The Associated Press found it wasn't an anomaly. Election offices in California, Louisiana, New Mexico and elsewhere also reported receiving completed ballots in the mail that should have gone to other states.
