About 2,000 receive incorrect voter registration cards

<p>In a gaffe that may cause confusion in the Chatham County commissioner election, about 2,000 residents received voter registration cards for the wrong commission district.</p><p>New cards will be mailed out this week in time for the July 20 primary, but some question whether it will be too late. The district was recently redrawn to reflect population changes in the 2000 census.</p><p>Chatham County sent out cards to inform residents of the redistricting, but some cards didn't accurately explain the changes.</p><p>"If you send out cards supporting the notion that we're still in District 4, it creates confusion that may discourage people from going to the polls," said Robert Wickwire, a resident of Long Point.</p><p>Chatham County Voter Registration Director Sandra Williams said she'll take the blame.</p><p>"We have 108 precincts, and district changes at two of them slipped by us," she said.</p><p>The two precincts in which the mistake occurred are split precincts, meaning voters in two commission districts use the polls there.</p><p>Commissioner Jeff Rayno said he's been telling voters to alert poll workers if his name doesn't appear on the ballot.</p><p>The voter card mistake is equally frustrating to Rayno's opponent, Helen Stone. Martin Sullivan Jr., who works on Stone's campaign, said it was hard enough to disseminate the information about the new districts, and now, "I'm going to have to go out and knock on doors again."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x28666fc)</p>