Sorry, 1,300 Told: You Can’t Vote Absentee

Nearly 1,300 voters in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach were sent letters Friday from county elections officials telling them that they must vote in person because their applications for absentee ballots were received too late.

Some 1,331 absentee ballot requests mailed on behalf of a South County community association were held after postal officials discovered they contained an unauthorized postal permit number and incorrectly stated that postage would be paid by the registrar’s office. Registrar officials discovered the problem Thursday and collected the mail anyway, but it was too late to meet the application deadline.

Of that number, 991 applications were valid and voters will be sent letters, Orange County Registrar Rosalyn Lever said. Of the remainder, some were completed by people not currently registered to vote, some were from voters giving incorrect addresses and others were for voters duplicating requests for early ballots.

Lever has asked the Orange County district attorney’s office to investigate the postage irregularities.

Another group of 320 absentee ballot requests mailed through Laguna Beach wasn’t forwarded to the registrar’s office after a city postal fund ran out of money. From that group, 286 letters will be sent to voters whose applications were valid, Lever said.

Any voter who requested but failed to receive an absentee ballot can fill out an emergency absentee ballot at the registrar’s office at 1300 S. Grand Ave. in Santa Ana today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Voters also may cast ballots in person at their polling places.