Thousands of California Voters Received Duplicate Mail Ballots Ahead of Nov. 3 Midterms Due to Printing Error

Thousands of registered voters in California's Tulare County were accidentally mailed duplicate vote-by-mail ballots for the November 3, 2026, midterm elections after a private printing vendor reprinted and sent a batch of ballots by mistake, county officials said.

The error affected 7,791 voters-about 3% of the county's roughly 227,000 registered voters-and was concentrated in the city of Tulare, where roughly 23% of the city's more than 34,500 registered voters received an extra ballot, according to Michelle Baldwin, the Tulare County registrar of voters.

Residents began reporting the duplicates on the afternoon of October 13, contacting the elections office in Visalia by phone and in person with concerns they could be accused of attempting to vote twice. The county's longtime ballot printer, Porterville-based ProVote Solutions, accepted full responsibility for the mistake, Baldwin said. The vendor confirmed the accidental reprinting and mailing that evening and quickly produced explanatory postcards (in English and Spanish) that instructed affected voters to securely destroy the duplicate ballot and submit only one.

County officials emphasized that existing safeguards prevent any double counting. Each return envelope carries a unique barcode linked to the voter's record. Before a ballot is accepted, staff scan the barcode, verify the signature against the voter file, and check that the person has not already voted. If two ballots from the same voter are submitted, the second is flagged and not counted. "We just want to reassure our voters that no ballot will be counted twice," Baldwin said in earlier local reporting. Voters may use either ballot packet.

A separate, smaller mailing error occurred in Imperial County, where officials announced that 160 voters with confidential status (whose personal information is kept off public rolls for safety reasons) received duplicate ballots. That issue was linked to updates in processing procedures under changes in California law that expanded confidential voter eligibility.

Tulare County is largely rural and has voted for Republican presidential candidates in recent cycles. Portions of the city of Tulare fall within the competitive 22nd Congressional District, featuring a race between incumbent Rep. David Valadao (R) and Democratic challenger Randy Villegas. Campaign representatives for both candidates expressed confidence in the county's handling of the issue and the election process. Election security experts noted that human errors can occur in decentralized systems run by many people and vendors, but built-in checks make elections resilient to such mistakes.

California automatically mails ballots to all active registered voters. Election Day is November 3, with polls closing at 8 p.m. local time. Voters with questions can contact their county registrar of voters.