PENDLETON — Around 3,600 Umatilla County residents in the greater Pendleton area received the wrong ballot for the May 20 special election.

Voters in precincts 110, 111 and 115 — which includes much of the tribal lands as well as the Reith Road and McKay Creek Reservoir areas — will receive replacement ballots. The error did not affect ballots for residents of the city of Pendleton.

Stephen Craigen, elections-records supervisor for the county, said a voter who received an incorrect ballot brought the issue to the county’s attention Thursday, May 1.

“There was an issue putting together the correct ballot styles to the insert with the return envelope,” Craigen said. “Those ballot styles basically got jumbled up for those splits.”

A ballot style is the designation for which election contests appear on a given ballot. Sometimes, precincts will have several ballot styles — splits — depending on which part of a precinct a voter lives in. Craigen said the three precincts with ballot discrepancies have 10, 11 and 12 ballot splits within their respective boundaries.

Even though some people will receive a second ballot, their votes will not be counted twice. Umatilla County elections staff will put a hold on the initial ballots from the affected precincts to ensure the inaccurate ballots and their replacements are caught.

Those who have turned in their first ballot but receive a second can legally vote on the second ballot and turn it into the elections office. The second ballot is the only one the elections division will count.

“When an individual does return their second ballot, we’re going to then generate the replacement ballot on our end,” Craigen said. “The ballots that we’re doing the replacement for, they will not go through the scanning system.”

Craigen said anyone with questions can contact the Umatilla County Elections Division at 541-278-6254.