The San Jose City Clerk’s Office is under fire Thursday over a mistake on the ballot for a special election next month that is costing taxpayers $15,000 to fix. The one candidate at the center of the ballot mishap says it could end up costing him votes. Ten candidates are running for the hotly contested race to be a member of the San Jose City Council. The seat is vacant since Kansen Chu is heading to the State Assembly. Some 29,000 households in North San Jose should have already received the official ballot for the April 7 special election. In the ballot, all of the candidates have a diamond symbol next to their names.
The symbol means the candidate agreed to voluntarily limit campaign spending, essentially a $140,000 dollar spending cap. However, it’s not accurate.
A staff member mistakenly noted that candidate Mahn Nguyen had agreed to the spending cap when he did not. Now, the office plans to send out brochures alerting voters of the office error.
“It just was a typo that got carried forward,” said San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber. Taber said most of the $15,000 cost will be for postage.
Full Article: Special election ballot error to cost San Jose taxpayers $15,000 – KTVU –.