The consultant who prepared the city’s General Election ballot with a critical error in its Chinese-language instructions said he wants the city to split the cost of the mistake. The mail-in ballots recently sent out to the city’s nearly 29,000 voters included instructions in four languages, but directed voters in Chinese to choose up to three instead of two City Council candidates in the race for two open seats. The mistake is expected to cost up to $10,000 and prompted the city to send out correction notices in the four languages to all voters, elections officials said. “We feel it should be a 50/50 split,” Scott Martin, president and owner of Anaheim-based Martin and Chapman Co., said. “We initiated it but they approved it. On our proof form, we emphasize to double check all spellings and translations.” A city election official signed a form stating that “Martin and Chapman Co. will not be responsible for any errors (including translations) found after the proofs are signed off.”
Martin said the company has now added another double-check reminder to its checklist before materials go to print but said cities also need to be responsible for what is sent out to voters. Arcadia’s Chief Deputy City Clerk Lisa Mussenden said she did approve the ballot for print but has not yet determined with the consultant who will pay for the cost. “They do not print it unless I give the approval for print,” she said, noting this is the first problem she’s had in at least six or seven elections. “We will put measures in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again … It’s just an error that no one caught.”
Mayor Gary Kovacic, who is running for re-election, said it’s “definitely a legal issue as far as liability” and thus would leave it up to the city attorney to analyze it and make a recommendation. City Attorney Stephen Deitsch said Monday he had no comment since he not yet discussed the issue with new City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto, whose first day was Monday. “The key thing right now is to make sure the election is conducted with correction notices having been handled,” Deitsch said. “We just want to make sure it’s a full, fair and open election.”
Full Article: Consultant wants Arcadia to split cost of Chinese-language ballot error – SGVTribune.com.