BOZEMAN — What may look like an ordinary ballot envelope actually has a critical misprint.
At the Gallatin County Elections Office, volunteers are working to fix the problem.
“We are covering bar codes on the return ballot envelopes,” said Kathie Scarrah, a volunteer.
Scarrah has been helping at the elections office since returning to Montana in 2020.
“I was involved in national politics for more than three decades. When I moved back home to Bozeman, I wanted to see how the sausage was made,” she said.
On Tuesday, her volunteer shift took a turn when officials discovered an error on all 62,000+ absentee return ballots for the upcoming primary election — a misprint in the barcode.
When I asked how many envelopes she had corrected, Scarrah estimated, “Each box has 100. It probably takes about an hour to do 100. So maybe 1,000?”
Eric Semerad, Gallatin County clerk and recorder and election administrator, explained how this happened. He stated that the secretary of state determines ballot formatting, and the misprinted barcode matches the secretary’s sample barcode.
“So they’re programmed to go to a different location in Montana,” Semerad said.
WATCH: Gallatin County volunteers are working hard to fix a barcode misprint on thousands of absentee ballot envelopes
Fortunately, primary election ballots will not be mailed until the first week of May. Until then, volunteers will be placing stickers over the barcodes.
“Without the barcode, the post office equipment can read our address and spray the correct barcode onto the envelope,” Semerad said.
Unfortunately, that ballot you just got in the mail for the school election? Also has misprinted return envelopes — about 77,500, the largest election mailing in Gallatin County history.
“For the school election ballots, we’re working with the post office. They are fully aware of what’s going on and have a plan in place so ballots can get to us on time,” Semerad said.
School election ballots are due May 5. Semerad reminded voters to fill out all required information.
“Along with your signature, there are four little red boxes below it to provide the year of your birth. It is required for us to process your ballot,” he said.
Make sure you write your date of birth – So the ballots these hard-working volunteers have spent so much time correcting will be valid.
“If you look at how many volunteers are here — and let’s say each one does between 750 and 1,000 — that’s a lot of work. A lot of extra work, the election office got hit with,” she said.
Primary election ballots will be mailed on May 8 and must be returned by June 2.
