Davidson County voters express their frustration after ballot mix-ups

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - For some residents in Davidson County, the 2022 midterm election has brought its fair share of controversy.

Davidson County officials released a 10-page list of voters who received incorrect ballots and more than 430 voters were given incorrect ballots and cast votes in the wrong places. On election day, they will have to go to the main Election Commission if they want to cast a corrected ballot that may or may not count.

One voter that was part of the mix-up expressed her frustration to WSMV.

“It was really just to make sure that other people didn’t have to go through what I’m going through now,” said Anna Carella.

Carella, a Davidson County voter, is part of a settled lawsuit from the Tennessee ACLU trying to mend the hundreds of faulty ballots that were cast in early voting. Carella also works on Odessa Kelly’s campaign and she said that’s the only reason she realized her ballot was wrong.

“I think most people probably didn’t do this level of research or, you know, they just assumed that the Election Commission has them the right candidate.

Now if she and 437 others want to cast a correct ballot, they will have to go vote again on Tuesday, at a specific office, provisionally.

“It doesn’t feel great that my vote is provisional,” said Carella. “After already having voted early and felt like I was really accomplished, it’s really frustrating that year, that I’ll have to travel so much.”

Carella said she thinks the Tennessee districts are gerrymandered and that this problem underscores that.

“I think it’s suspicious,” said Carella. “I think it really draws attention to how these district lines don’t make any sense.”

Debby Gould, the president of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee said that as a non-partisan organization, they don’t want to point fingers at who made the error.

“We want it corrected,” said Gould, which was why the organization sued in the first place. “We understand that they want to make it right. And we appreciate them making the effort to make it right.”

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