Northern Virginia

Thousands of Virginia Voters Sent Incorrect Voting Info: Here's How to Check Your Polling Place

You can check your county election website for up-to-date precinct information

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Just weeks before the midterm elections, tens of thousands of notices were sent to voters in Virginia containing incorrect information about where to vote.

The Virginia Department of Elections says it mailed more than six million notices to all registered voters.

But some information was missing on mailers sent to Clifton, Dumfries, Haymarket, Herndon, Occoquan, Quantico and Vienna, according to a release from the elections department.

A second mailer sent to voters in those cities listed the wrong polling locations.

For example, one mailer sent to Herndon instructed people to vote in the City of Fairfax, which is an entirely separate jurisdiction from Fairfax County.

On Thursday, state Sen. Jennifer Boysko started to get calls from fellow Herndon residents who’d just received mail from the state directing them to the wrong polling place.

Thousands of Northern Virginians were sent incorrect information on where to vote in the 2022 midterm elections. News4's Juliana Valencia reports.

She said voters expressed confusion and anger. 

"I was getting a lot of both," she said. "People were saying, 'What is this all about? Why would I go all the way to the city of Fairfax? It takes 30 minutes to get over there'."

In Northern Virginia, about 31,000 notices with incorrect polling place information landed in mailboxes in seven locations in Fairfax and Prince Williams counties.

State election officials were alerted, and the commissioner of elections issued a statement blaming the problem on a vendor who made a printing error.

About 31,000 notices with incorrect polling place information landed in mailboxes in seven Fairfax and Prince Williams county towns. And Northern Virginians were not the only voters who got the incorrect mailings — many voters in southwest Virginia were also sent wrong information about their polling places.

Now the local registrars are jumping into action to clean up the mess, sending out corrected information.

"We've already sent them the correct information twice before, but we're once again sending them correct information to correct the mistakes made by the Virginia Department of Elections," said Fairfax County Registrar Eric Spicer.

Fixing the mistake will be costly, but local election officials will be reimbursed by the state.

Boysko, who serves on the state senate's Privilege and Elections Committee, says there will be a deeper look at how state officials made such a big mistake.

"You can bet that we are going to be looking into this and asking more questions," she said. "Voter integrity is just at the top of the list of things that we need to make sure people have comfort with."

Other Democratic lawmakers took to social media with sharp words directed at Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has called election integrity a priority.

If you live in one of the affected locations, check your county election website for accurate precinct information. Here are lists of polling places in Fairfax County and Prince William County.

You can also use NBC Washington's Plan Your Vote tool, which includes information on early and mail-in voting; the Virginia Department of Elections polling place lookup tool or call 804-864-8901 and dial 0 for the operator.

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