Early voting has been suspended in Vermont's largest city after officials learned that five candidates had been left off the ballot.
Burlington officials announced Monday that ballots for the Nov. 4 election must be reprinted at a cost of $10,000. The Burlington Free Press reports that five of the 15 Republican nominees for justice of the peace were omitted.
The office of Burlington's clerk and treasurer says the error was inadvertent. Burlington Republican Party Chair Tony Bell submitted the ballots. “There’s only ten lines on each form. They were listed page one and page two. They were all stamped individually by the city clerk when they were taken in so I don’t see how the mistake can be made.”
Bell adds that City Hall is doing what needs to be done to correct the problem.
422 early and absentee voters that were distributed will be replaced. The old ballots will be rejected by the city's vote-counting machines.
Mayor Miro Weinberger says it's the second time in two years that the city has been forced to correct a ballot. He says, "These avoidable and costly errors must end."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
