NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than 430 voters cast ballots in the wrong race in early Election Day voting in Nashville, a left-leaning city that Republicans carved three ways during redistricting in hopes of flipping a Democratic seat.
The amount is a stark jump from the initial number that the Davidson County Election Commission provided last week, when officials said the problem was contained to just 212 miscast ballots. Election administrator Jeff Roberts said Monday that the initial amount did not take into account the final three days of early voting, which ended last Thursday. He also provided a list of the affected voters.
The new number places yet another level of scrutiny around Nashville's voting system, which has faced criticism after The Associated Press reported that voters were being given ballots for incorrect congressional and statehouse races. The problem involves precincts that were split during the GOP-led redistricting process, which resulted in Nashville being divided into three congressional districts.
Republicans pushed back on the idea that redistricting caused the problem. Instead, they've placed the blame on Nashville election officials even though similar problems have popped up elsewhere across the state.
Shortly after the AP's report last Tuesday, Roberts said his office had worked throughout the night to fix the problem and that voters would receive the correct ballot by Election Day this Tuesday.
On Friday, however, officials reversed course, saying there was still a risk of an unknown amount of voters receiving the wrong ballot.
Under an agreement sparked by a lawsuit filed Friday, voters now may be able to enter a provisional ballot on Election Day at the county election office if they submitted an incorrect ballot during the early...
