Middle Initial Wrong on 1,000s of KY Ballot Labels

State election officials say several thousand Kentuckians have been sent ballot mailing labels with incorrect middle initials, but the ballots are still valid.

Executive Director of the Kentucky State Board of Elections Jared Dearing says an internal coding error has led to a small batch of ballot labels being mailed with the last letter of a voter's middle name being incorrectly used as their middle initial.

Dearing used his own name to explain the error.

"My full name is Jared Lee Dearing, the label would have printed Jared E. Dearing and not L," he said.

He said the problem was identified quickly, but several thousand of the incorrect labels went out to citizens before the error was noticed.

McCracken County Clerk Julie Griggs said, "People are calling us wanting to know if the ballot is still valid, and it is, it absolutely is, they can vote it, it's no problem. We've confirmed it with State Board of Elections. The ballots are fine."

One clerk said she had been dealing with calls for about four days. 

Several other county clerks told West Kentucky Star they have been contacted by residents about the issue, but they have also reassured voters that the label is the only problem, and it is not on their ballot, just the envelope.

Dearing assured anyone who received these incorrect labels that the ballots are still valid, and anyone who receives one should sign using their normal signature.