CAMBRIDGE, Md.- With just about a month left before the November election, some voters in Cambridge recently received a surprise in the mail.
The Krewson family in particular says they received a ballot for their 16-year-old son, Kyler. It's a ballot, they say, should never have existed at all.
"My confidence in the election has eroded rapidly," father, Ben Krewson said.
"Not everyone would be like us and report it. Some people might just vote and not really know," Kyler said.
The Krewson's say they received the ballot from company, TrueBallot, earlier in the week. Dorchester County and the City of Cambridge contracted the company to help mail ballots for the election.
WBOC reached out to the county's Election Director Gwen Dales, who says the Krewson's ballot would not be counted even if it were filled out and mailed back.
Under Maryland law, voters may register at age 16, but their vote is not counted until they're 18. Dales says a preliminary list of registered voters, including those underage, was sent to TrueBallot. As a result, Dales says 51 people in the City of Cambridge were sent ballots even though they were ineligible. Dales says they also sent out letters to ineligible voters, explaining why their vote did not count. The Krewson's have yet to receive any such letter from either the county or the city.
John Seibel, president of TrueBallot, says since then, the county has updated the preliminary list into a final one. Based off that final version, Seibel says their system cross-checks with their list of eligible voters. Ballots that are challenged and deemed ineligible are thrown out.
"It's going to be a transparent election because that's what our system does," Seibel said. "In updating a voter eligibility list, it happens in virtually every election that you do."
The Krewson's say they're still unconvinced and will vote in person in the upcoming November election.
