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Printing error sends duplicate mail ballots to thousands of Tulare County voters

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 3 outlets, mostly right-leaning (67%).

3 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Election workers sorting mail ballot envelopes from a U.S. Postal Service box
Image via The Epoch TimesHow images are chosenReport this image

Tulare County election officials say a printing error by a private vendor sent duplicate mail ballots for the November 3 midterm election to about 7,800 voters in the city of Tulare. The county registrar, Michelle Baldwin, said the vendor, ProVote Solutions, has accepted full responsibility and that safeguards would keep the extra ballots from being counted. County notices tell voters to use only one ballot and destroy the duplicate, and the vendor has sent postcards with guidance. Voters called and visited the registrar's office in Visalia worried they could be accused of voting twice.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. A printing error by a private vendor sent duplicate mail ballots to about 7,800 voters in the city of Tulare, according to county officials.

    Reported byLeft1Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Los Angeles Times
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times

  2. The county registrar said the vendor, ProVote Solutions, has accepted full responsibility for the mistake.

    Reported byLeft1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Los Angeles Times
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times

  3. The duplicates affect about 3% of the county's 227,000 registered voters, according to the New York Post.

    One outletNew York Post· Right

  4. A county notice tells voters to use only one ballot and destroy the duplicate, and not to vote twice.

    One outletThe Epoch Times· Far Right

  5. The registrar said safeguards were in place to keep the extra ballots from being counted.

    One outletLos Angeles Times· Left

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • The duplicate ballots raise concerns about the security of the election.

    The Los Angeles Times says safeguards kept the extra ballots from being counted and that the outcry is outsized. The New York Post says questions swirl over the security of the state's election process.

How each side tells it

Compare views

Both sides report a vendor printing error sent duplicate mail ballots to thousands of Tulare County voters. The Los Angeles Times calls the outcry outsized in a tense climate, while the New York Post and The Epoch Times stress election security and voter confusion.

  • the left

    1 outlet

    The Los Angeles Times headline presents the error as routine and says the public outcry is outsized in a tense election season.

    Getting a duplicate mail ballot is not unheard of. But in this tense election season, the outcry is Loaded modifier“outsized”Calls the public reaction excessive, which is a judgement about the critics rather than a fact about the error.More neutral: larger than the error aloneDisagree with this highlight?
    Los Angeles TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    No coverage yet

    No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

  • the right

    2 outlets

    The New York Post headline calls it a voting fiasco and ties it to security questions, while The Epoch Times, rated Far Right, uses a neutral headline stating the county's confirmation.

    Sensational language“Voting fiasco”Labels the event a fiasco before the facts of its impact are established.More neutral: Duplicate ballots sent to California votersDisagree with this highlight? as thousands of duplicate ballots sent to Californians
    New York PostRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left1

    outsized

  • Center

    Has not covered this story.

  • Right2

    questions swirl over the securityVoting fiasco

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded modifier

    outsizedMore neutral: larger than the error alone

    Calls the public reaction excessive, which is a judgement about the critics rather than a fact about the error.

    But in this tense election season, the outcry is outsized

    Used byLos Angeles Times (Left)

  • Vague attribution

    questions swirl over the securityMore neutral: officials and voters have raised questions about the security

    Says questions exist without naming who raises them.

    …voters were sent duplicate mail-in ballots ahead of the midterms as questions swirl over the security of the state's election process.

    Used byNew York Post (Right)

  • Sensational language

    Voting fiascoMore neutral: Duplicate ballots sent to California voters

    Labels the event a fiasco before the facts of its impact are established.

    Voting fiasco as thousands of duplicate ballots sent to Californians

    Used byNew York Post (Right)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

1 outlet

Leads with

  • Routine nature of the printing error
  • Tense political climate
  • Safeguards against counting extra ballots
See the headline from the leftHide the headlines
  • Los Angeles TimesLeft

    Getting a duplicate mail ballot is not unheard of. But in this tense election season, the outcry is Loaded modifier“outsized”Calls the public reaction excessive, which is a judgement about the critics rather than a fact about the error.More neutral: larger than the error aloneDisagree with this highlight?

    Thousands of voters in a Central Valley town received two ballots in the mail, the result of a printing error. But in this tense political climate, even straightforward election mistakes are magnified.

    Read at Los Angeles Times (opens in a new tab)

From the center

0 outlets

No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

From the right

2 outlets

Leads with

  • Security of the election process
  • Voter confusion and fear of being accused of fraud
  • Scale of duplicate ballots
See the 2 headlines from the rightHide the headlines
  • The Epoch TimesFar Right

    Duplicate Mail-In Ballots Sent to Voters in Tulare and Imperial Counties

    Tulare County election officials said that a ‘printer vendor error caused duplicate Vote By Mail ballots in the City of Tulare.’

    Read at The Epoch Times (opens in a new tab)
  • New York PostRight

    Sensational language“Voting fiasco”Labels the event a fiasco before the facts of its impact are established.More neutral: Duplicate ballots sent to California votersDisagree with this highlight? as thousands of duplicate ballots sent to Californians

    Thousands of California voters were sent duplicate mail-in ballots ahead of the midterms as Vague attribution“questions swirl over the security”Says questions exist without naming who raises them.More neutral: officials and voters have raised questions about the securityDisagree with this highlight? of the state's election process.

    Read at New York Post (opens in a new tab)

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    Los Angeles Times, Oct 20, 6:09 PM EDT

  • Center

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

  • Right

    4 hr later

    Its first report, Oct 20, 10:11 PM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Los Angeles TimesLeftOct 20, 6:09 PM EDT
  2. New York PostRightOct 20, 10:11 PM EDT
  3. The Epoch TimesFar RightOct 22, 2:17 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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