Poll place problems, reports of wrong ballots given out in Naples

WINK News is hearing reports of poll workers giving out the wrong ballots in Naples.

One viewer told WINK News they were given the wrong ballot because “They presumed I was a Republican.”

The Supervisor of Elections Office said that one man was given the wrong ballot at the Village Walk on Tuesday morning.

Robert Muller told us over the phone that the poll worker told him when he was first given the ballot that “he was getting a good one.”

He didn’t realize what she meant by that and then looked down and saw that he actually got the wrong one.

Muller told us that he’s a registered Democrat.

He walked into the polls Tuesday morning with his sample ballot, ready to vote as a Democrat
after being handed his ballot. He went to cast his vote and didn’t recognize anything on it
he went to the poll worker and said he was given the wrong one; she said to him, “Oh, I presumed you were a Republican.”

He was still able to cast his vote correctly, but soon after, he called the supervisor for the elections office.

“I was aware that he was given the wrong ballot, and he brought that to the volunteer’s attention,” said Trish Robertson from supervisor of elections office. “Immediately, the workers corrected the issue. They spoiled the ballot that he was given, which makes it unusable, and they gave him a new ballot, and it was the correct ballot, and he was able to vote today.”

The Supervisor of Elections Office said they did a recount of their ballots at the location to make sure their numbers were correct, and they were.

Robertson said a part of their training is to keep conversations with voters to a minimum; she couldn’t say for sure that this poll worker said what Muller said she did.