Wyn Delano
WMAL.com

Maryland — (WMAL) Only days before the Maryland Primary the State Board Of Elections revealed that an error in the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration system led to almost 19,000 change of address forms not getting processed. The issue, which went unnoticed over a 14-month period, only affected a subset of requests – making it exceptionally difficult to spot.

“We get, on a daily basis, over a thousand records from MVA every night – so it varies,” Maryland Board of Elections Deputy Administrator Nikki Charlson told WMAL on Monday. “A varience of 40, 50, 60 transactions a day wouldn’t have raised any alarms.”

It wasn’t until an employee at the Board of Elections tried to change her address and didn’t receive the proper card from MVA that officials began to suspect that something was wrong. According to Charlson, they discovered that all of the affected transactions involved an attempt to change one’s address, though in some cases voters also changed their party affiliation – which would not have been counted.

With primary elections tomorrow, both election officials and party officials are making sure to remind voters that even if you are one of the 19,000 you can still vote.

“When they go to vote they’ll have to vote a provisional ballot , but that ballot will serve two purposes: it will enable them to update their address, get the correct ballot, and have that ballot be counted,” Charlson said. She added that voters can check the status of their provisional ballot online after it has been submitted.

She encourages those who think they might be affected to use their polling place locator at elections.maryland.gov to find out the precinct for their new address and to vote there.

Party officials were also quick to remind voters that, even if they encounter resistance at the polls, they should still show up and cast their, now provisional, ballot.

“We are trying to make sure that every single voter has a right to vote, independent of this MVA mishap,” says Fabion Seaton, Communications Director of the Maryland Democratic Party. The party sent out a tweet Monday morning encouraging those who face issues at the polls to take advantage of their “Voter Protection Hotline” at 1-888-678-8683. According to the tweet, the phone line will be staffed with attorneys throughout election day to assist in real time.

Polls for the 2018 Maryland primary open Tuesday at 7AM and close at 8PM.

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