SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. — Early voting in Virginia has been underway for nearly two weeks. During that time, election officials in Spotsylvania County have been dealing with concerns and questions from confused voters.
Those concerns stem from sample ballots being handed out at the only polling location open right now during early voting. Nick Ignacio, who is running for Clerk of Court against incumbent clerk Christy Jett, is handing out ballots that voters are calling unethical and misleading.
WUSA9 went to the polling location and obtained one of the sample ballots. It shows Ignacio circled on one side as an endorsed candidate of Spotsylvania Democrats, and as an endorsed candidate of the Spotsylvania Republican Committee on the other side.
However, Ignacio is not endorsed by either party. Despite being misleading, election officials say there is nothing illegal about Ignacio's sample ballot.
"We're just here to listen to voters. I hate that it does cause confusion for them. There's already so many things in our climate that they're unsure of anyway and this kind of just adds to it. There's also a perception that we have something to do with it and that we approved sample ballots and we don't," said Kellie Acors, Director of Elections in Spotsylvania County.
According to Virginia Code, sample ballots not authorized by an electoral board are allowed to be printed and circulated. However, those ballots are not allowed to be printed on white paper and must have 'sample ballot' written on it in a font no smaller than 24 point.
Here's what an authorized sample looks like from the registrar's office:
Other candidates who are also running in the upcoming election have voiced their concerns along with voters. Ryan Mehaffey is running unopposed for Spotsylvania Commonwealth's Attorney. He's also the candidate the Republican party endorsed. Mehaffey took to his campaign social media page condeming the sample ballots, saying he fears this may have led voters to case a vote they did not intend to.
"It was upsetting to me. Many people I spoke to were upset after they realized what was going on, especially elderly voters," read part of Mehaffey's post.
Michael Bush, who is endorsed by the Democratic Party, is running for a supervisor seat in the county. He echoed Mehaffey's concerns.
"We are working together to preserve our democracy and there's been a breach through efforts like this. The democrats and republicans are working together to make sure we can stop this behavior," said Bush.
WUSA9 reached out to the number listed on Ignacio's campaign website, asking for a comment on the sample ballots. We received a statement saying in part:
"It is a legal, independent sample ballot based on who we believe voters would vote for based on party affiliation."
When we asked if we could could attribute the statement to Ignacio, we did not receive a response.
Spotsylvania election officials tell WUSA9 they will continue to answer any questions and provide information on their website for voters.