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Will my absentee ballot still count if the middle initial is wrong?

Some Kentucky counties do not request to have a person’s middle initial on the absentee ballots.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If you've noticed that your middle initial on your absentee ballot is incorrect, it's still valid, according to the Kentucky State Board of Elections. 

The Kentucky State Board of Elections is aware of a labeling issue being reported. WHAS11 talked with them exclusively about this issue and if the mislabeling would be considered voter tampering, the short answer is, no.

RELATED: All absentee ballots have been sent, Kentucky Board of Elections says

According to the State Board of Elections, the created the absentee ballot labels through a portal. Some Kentucky counties do not request to have a person’s middle initial on the absentee ballots. Some labels were made and it produced the initial in the last letter of your middle name instead of the first. 

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So, for example, WHAS11 'Kentucky' News. The ballot would be sent as WHAS11 'Y' News.

If you did not use the portal but a paper application into the Jeff County Clerk yours would be correct because they used exactly what the person put on that application.

The scanner code is really your identification along with the signature.

Your vote is counted properly. The State Board of Elections just keyed the incorrect letter of your name.

If a voter has requested but not received an absentee ballot by Tuesday, the board said they can appear at the county's polling location to vote in-person. They must tell an election officer, who will contact the county clerk's office to cancel the voter's absentee ballot from the registration system so there is not a possibility of voting twice.


If they are deemed illegible to vote, they can fill out a provisional ballot or request a hearing with their county's board of elections. Secretary of State Michael Adams said without the regulation, any voter who says they did not get an absentee could only fill out a provisional ballot.

More on Kentucky Primary:

What is voter suppression?

Kentucky election officials call voter suppression claims 'misinformation'

Kentucky governor confirms more than 175K nonviolent offenders have voting rights restored

VERIFY: Your mail-in ballot will be sent regardless if it has a stamp or not

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