Q&A on Incorrect Sample Ballot for House District 40

Published on Sat, 08/09/2025 - 15:33

This week, the Orange County Supervisor of Elections sent an informational sample ballot mailer with an incorrect candidate listing to 88,972 voters in House District 40. Here’s what you need to know:

What is a sample ballot?
Before each election, the Supervisor of Elections sends an informational sample ballot mailer to voters in districts with offices on the ballot. It includes the list of candidates, the voter’s polling place, a map of the polling place, and other important election details.

What was wrong with the House District 40 sample ballot?
The mailing sent the week of August 4 listed the wrong Democratic candidate for House District 40. The correct Democratic candidate is RaShon Young.

How did this happen?
The informational sample ballot mailer artwork is created in-house by elections office staff. In preparing the artwork, staff mistakenly listed the wrong Democratic candidate and sent that incorrect file to the printing vendor. The error originated in the elections office, not with the printer.

Was there a proofing process?
Yes. All mailings go through a detailed proofing process. Unfortunately, the error was not caught during this process. Steps are being taken to strengthen the proofing system to prevent future errors.

How many voters were impacted?
88,972 voters in House District 40 received the incorrect mailing.

Are the actual ballots correct?
Yes. The ballots voters will use for vote-by-mail, early voting, and Election Day are correct. RaShon Young is properly listed as the Democratic candidate. You can view all 103 precinct ballots for Senate District 15 / House District 40 here.

What is being done to correct the error?

The correct informational sample ballot mailer is now posted on the elections website.

Ballots for all 103 precincts are available online, along with composite ballots in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Hindi.

The office will issue a press release, post updates on social media, and send a corrected informational sample ballot mailer to affected voters.

Karen Castor Dentel, Orange County Supervisor of Elections
Street Address: 119 West Kaley Street, Orlando, FL 32806
Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 562001, Orlando, FL 32856-2001
Office: 407-836-2070 • Fax: 407-254-6596

Florida has a very broad public records law. As a result, any written communication created or received by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office will be made available to the public and media, upon request, unless otherwise exempt. Under Florida law, F.S. 668.6076, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this office. Instead, contact our office by phone or in writing.