Ballot design prompts theories that election is rigged

Republicans claim that holes in the mail-in envelope reveal how people voted on Prop. 50. California’s secretary of state tries to ‘set the record straight.’

- BY SEEMA MEHTA

CALIFORNIA ballot envelopes have holes to help visually impaired voters.

(ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times)

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber on Monday pushed back against a torrent of misinformation on social media sites claiming that mail-in ballots for the state’s Nov. 4 special election are purposefully designed to disclose how people voted.

Weber, the state's top elections official, denied claims by some Republicans and far-right partisans that holes on ballot envelopes allow officials to see how Californians voted on Proposition 50, the ballot measure about redistricting.

"The small holes on ballot envelopes are an accessibility feature to allow sight-impaired voters to orient themselves to where they are required to sign the envelope," Weber said in a statement.

Weber said voters can insert ballots in return envelopes in a manner that doesn’t reveal how they voted, or could cast ballots in person at vote stations, some of which will open soon for early voting.