Absentee ballots for Meridian Township were sent to voters with incorrect instructions.
The ballots included instructions on how to vote straight party, but straight-party voting was banned by a recent appeals court decision.
The ballots themselves do not include an option to vote straight ticket.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum says the mistake is turning an already confusing issue into an even bigger mess.
The error was found by a voter in Meridian Township. From there, Township Clerk Brett Dreyfus sent an email to those who might have been affected, which Byrum says made things worse.
"Some of those recipients never requested a ballot, so they're calling me and going on social media, so it's creating a lot of confusion in Meridian Township in regards to this already confusing and big election," Byrum said.
Dreyfus says that the error came from Printing Systems, Inc., which included instructions that had last been updated in June 2017, but that the mistake ultimately comes back to him.
"My office and myself take responsibility for the mistake that went out. We proofread these for typographical errors. We made an assumption that the content was accurate, and that was a mistake that's on my shoulder. I accept responsibility for that," he said. "I can assure voters that will never happen again."
Despite the mistake, Dreyfus said voting should go smoothly, as planned.
"This does not affect anybody's ability to vote," said Dreyfus. "It's clear that voters need to go through each selection and make the right selection and make their voices heard."
