Dearborn, Michigan, had to reprint thousands of ballots because of an error. Who pays for that?
Taxpayers will be on the hook for reprint costs after Dearborn, Michigan, printed and mailed out thousands of ballots that listed an incorrect candidate. But it’s unclear whether paying the bill will be the responsibility of the city or Wayne County.
City officials estimate that Dearborn printed about 10,000 ballots that incorrectly listed Mohammed Shegara as a candidate for City Council even though he dropped out of the race in April. Roughly 9,000 of those went out to voters, City Clerk George Darany told Votebeat.
To reprint and resend corrected ballots cost about $3,600, Darany said. The postage part of that, 21.3 cents per ballot, came out of the city’s account already, but no one has been billed yet for the reprint part, which is about 15 cents a ballot.
Darany said the error involved officials in both the city and county clerk’s offices — the county is responsible for designing the ballot — so the city may ask the county to shoulder part of the cost. County officials, for their part, say the cost should fall squarely on Dearborn.
https://www.votebeat.org/michigan/2025/10/16/dearborn-ballots-mistake-candidate-mohammed-shegara-withdrew-reprint/