Hudson County election officials told a judge today that it’s too late to fix the misspelled name of a Jersey City council candidate on voting machines in advance of Tuesday’s election, but they will instead post signs at polling places and mail out postcards to voters today informing them of the error.
On Spanish-language ballots in the most Hispanic area of Jersey City, Ward B candidate Lorena Loayza is listed on the ballot as Lorenza Loayza. Her name is spelled correctly on sample ballots, mail-in ballots, and English-language ballots.
Superior Court Judge David Katz ordered the county clerk to prominently display a notice of the spelling error at all Ward B polling locations. The office is also mailing postcards today.
All votes cast for Lorenza Loayza will be counted for Lorena Loayza.
Loayza’s attorney, Scott Salmon, maintained that seeing a misspelled name could cause confusion for some voters.
Signage should be in place as soon as today as voters complete their seventh day of in-person early voting.
This also happened in Edgewater Park this year: school board candidate Karen McLaughlin was listed on the ballot as Karen McGaughlin. It was too late to reprogram voting machines, and the Burlington County Clerk sent postcards notifying every voter of the change.
