ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO — Several hundred St. Louis County voters got letters in the mail this week falsely telling them that they are ineligible to vote in the upcoming midterm election, according to county election officials and accounts posted to social media. Some recipients posted photos of the letters they received to Facebook, with some on social media claiming the letters were fake.
That seemed to be the case as of Thursday morning. St. Louis County Board of Elections officials initially denied the letters were real, but they have since walked back that claim. It now seems the letters were genuine — that is, they came from the county board of elections — but they were still wrong.
Elections officials said the letters were sent out to people who turned in voter registrations after the October 10 deadline, but some election staff got confused and incorrectly sent letters out to about 600 people who registered on time. Elections officials have since revised that number down to 253 people as of Friday morning.
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The Post-Dispatch reports election officials realized their error weeks ago, but have not yet contacted any voters to tell them they are registered to vote after all. Election Director Rick Stream said he has now taken steps to notify voters who received the letters in error.
“We should have done it sooner, and we didn’t,” he told the paper.
If you received a letter in error, call the St. Louis County Board of Elections at 314-615-1800 and be sure to check your registration status here.
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