Volusia Co. absentee ballots missing pages, information

People rely on absentee ballots to cast their vote if they can't make it to the polls on Election Day.

WFTV found out one ballot in Volusia County is missing the first and most important page -- the list of candidates.

The error is from Precinct 903 -- Edgewater, where 390 ballots have already been sent out.

Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall said she believes the error is based on information from the vendor that mailed the ballots.

A voter who received an incorrect ballot said the office should be checking each and every absentee ballot.

When Laura Cloer received her absentee ballot in Edgewater, she opened it, read it and read it again.

"I don't see any candidates. I mean, you know there should be candidates on this paper, then I'm looking at the page numbers and I realized I have two pages of 2 of 3 and one page of 3 of 3," Cloer said.

She couldn't believe the mistake.

"Suppose people didn't realize, I mean, this is serious and when I called, it was like 'Oh, OK. No big deal,'" Cloer said.

McFall blames ABS Solutions -- an outside vendor company in charge of mailing absentee ballots.

"For some reason or another, it printed two Page 2s and left out the Page 1, and it was caught right away," said McFall.

The vendor claims it only mailed between four and six improper ballots, according to McFall. It said they only went to Precinct 903 in Edgewater along with 390 absentee ballots.

"We're going to know about it before we count it. We're going to check every envelope from 903, every envelope," McFall said.

But McFall's office only found out about the problem because a few voters complained about the improper ballots.

Cloer said she believes the office has no proof how many there really are.

"I think all absentee ballots should be observed. I think all of it should be pulled out and looked at, because to me, if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere," Cloer said.

In 2008, 68,000 people voted early or absentee.

McFall said if she finds improper ballots getting returned to her office, they won't be counted and another ballot will be sent to the voter.

WFTV