Sample ballot error is a $30K mistake in Orange County

The Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office erred in printing the wrong candidate’s name on sample ballots. That mistake now has a price tag for taxpayers of about $30,000.

The Office accidentally put the Democratic Primary loser’s name on 89,000 sample ballots sent out for the House District 40 Special General Election race held earlier this month.

RaShon Young — the correct Primary winner — was not listed on those ballots. Instead, the county listed former Rep. Travaris McCurdy, whom Young beat in the Primary.

Ultimately, the mistake didn’t impact the final result. Young cruised in the General Election with a crushing 75% of the vote to defeat Republican Tuan Le. Young replaces former Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, who won her own race to succeed the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson in Senate District 15.

After realizing that Young’s name was missing from the sample ballot, the Supervisor of Elections Office spent more than $16,000 to reprint the sample ballots and more than $13,000 for postage, according to the Office, which provided the invoices this week following a Florida Politics records request. The Office had put out a media alert to disclose what happened when it realized the mistake during the first months of Election Supervisor Karen Castor Dentel’s term.

“The unexpected cost of the correction did come out of an already tight budget, but was necessary because accuracy and transparency come first. We made the choice to hold ourselves accountable and immediately fix it,” said Office spokesman Blake Summerlin in a statement.

“Moving forward, we’re applying the same rigorous safeguards used for official ballots to all mass printed materials, so voters can be confident this won’t happen again.”

Castor Dentel said she was facing a shortfall of millions of dollars when she took over the Office in January. Her predecessor, Glen Gilzean, a Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee, faced allegations of misspending, including giving $2.1 million for student scholarships.

Young’s name was correctly printed on the actual election ballots.

Young was gracious after he found out McCurdy was listed in the first round of sample ballots instead of him. “Mistakes can happen, but what matters most is how they are addressed,” Young said in a statement.

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