Election officials in Sacramento, California, are asking voters to stop sanitizing their ballots after some were damaged by hand sanitizer and, in one case, a microwave.
Sacramento County officials said they have seen a number of voters coming into their offices to replace ballots they attempted to sanitize to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to KCRA. Sacramento County Public Information Officer Janna Haynes told the Daily Caller that this ruined ballots. (RELATED: Here Are All The States With Mail-In Voting Issues… So Far)
“In one case, the registrar says that someone even microwaved their ballot in an attempt to get rid of any germs,” according to KCRA anchor Walter Makaula.
Over 100 ballots were damaged by hand sanitizer, officials told KCRA.
DON’T do this if you want your vote to count. @SacCountyCA election officials tell me they’ve gotten at least a hundred damaged ballots so far from voters who’ve tried to disinfect the paperwork. In one case someone tried to microwave their ballot… (1/2) #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/tnt3Kg3TIr
— Stephanie Lin (@StephanieLinTV) October 11, 2020
“Alcohol in the hand sanitizer smeared the ink, and then made the pages, when they dried all crinkly,” Haynes told the Caller. “And so we were able to issue them a new ballot and void out the one that they had tried to sanitize.”
Haynes added that they have also had voters call in who similarly ruined their ballots, needing a new one.
“And we’re trying to get the word out that not only sanitizing your ballot will ruin it, but people don’t need to do that, your ballot has been untouched for probably at least a week before it gets to you,” Haynes said.
There are 868,410 registered voters in Sacramento County.