Typos on ballots won’t impact votes in Sedgwick County, says election commissioner

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Hundreds of thousands of Kansans will vote in the August 2 primary election in Kansas. Roughly 330,000 people in Sedgwick County are registered to vote in the upcoming election and some voters have already filled out their advanced mail-in ballots.

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Angela Caudillo said her office has mailed out more than 17,000 advance by mail ballots and continues to receive applications for those daily. Some people who have received their ballots reached out to Eyewitness News after finding a couple of typos on the special question regarding abortion rights in Kansas.

On the constitutional amendment question, the word ‘pregnancy is misspelled, missing the letter ‘n,’ and the letter ‘a’ is missing from the word ‘circumstances’.

Election Commissioner Caudillo said the ballot information is manually entered prior to printing, but your vote will still count as intended.

“We do regret that this typo was found after ballots were sent to our printer. The error, however, does not change the meaning of the question or its intent,” she said.

Caudillo and the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office ensure the error will not impact your vote since administrative errors cannot be the basis for a challenge under Kansas state law.

“Kansas law provides that administrative errors may not be the basis for overturning elections,” said Caudillo, “so rest assured your vote will count as you intended it to.”

If you would like to vote by mail, you must request your ballot by filling out a form and getting it to the election office by July 26. Early in-person voting begins July 28.

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