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One question left off of some Sebastian County absentee ballots

A second ballot was sent out to those voters who received a ballot with the missing question and both will have to be returned.

FORT SMITH, Ark. — More than 500 Sebastian County absentee ballots were mailed out with one of the questions missing from the ballot. 

The question missing from the absentee ballot was to vote for or against an extension of an existing sales tax for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Sebastian County Clerk, Sharon Brooks says the election board of commissioners met as soon as they discovered this problem last week and decided to print another ballot for those 524 voters with just the one question on it and to mail it out. 

“There shouldn’t be any confusion at all and if it is we ask the voters to call the office and we had some phone calls and all they wanted to know…it says special election and all they need to do is complete that and send it back to us,” Brooks said. 

Brooks says they have not discussed how the mistake was made, they just wanted to get the problem resolved quickly. 

Chairman of the Sebastian County Election Commission, David Damron says they receive the ballot issues from the county clerk and the Arkansas Secretary of State. 

“We actually key up or type up the ballot itself, so there is room for human error there and so we check that very closely, but this item just wasn’t supplied to us,” he said. 

If you do vote by absentee ballot, no matter if you mail your ballot back or take it to the county clerk’s office yourself weeks in advance, those ballots cannot be counted until Election Day. 

“Those 524 that we receive that second ballot on just with that one issue," Damron said. "That one issue will have to be counted by hand for that 524. But the original ballot that went out, those 524 will be counted by machine."

The Sebastian County Clerk says if you choose to return your absentee ballot to their office in person you must show a picture ID to sign and return your absentee ballot. 

RELATED: Arkansas Voter's Guide: What to know before heading to the polls

RELATED: Guide to filling out and sending absentee ballot in Arkansas

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