PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections wrongly told voters a candidate running for a Wellington Village Council seat had withdrawn from the race, according to a voter information card WPTV obtained from people’s mail-in ballots.
An official from the Supervisor of Elections office claims the printer “retyped” the notice after the correct proofs were sent to Commercial Printing, a contractor based in Fort Lauderdale.
WATCH: Candidate says she doesn't buy Supervisor of Elections' excuse
The contractor declined to comment on the topic after WPTV obtained copies of the correct proofs sent to the company last week. An official from the office said a staff member responsible for proofreading the printed notice then missed the error before sending out the cards.
The card sent to voters says: "A candidate in the race for the office of Council Member - Seat #3 Wellington has withdrawn such that: A vote cast for Lauren Brody will not count."
However, the card is incorrect because Lauren Brody is still running for the seat. She said she doesn’t believe the office’s explanation that the printer “retyped” the notice.
“I think that my chances of winning a billion-dollar lottery are greater than the chance of a printer sticking the word ‘not’ in front of the word ‘count’,” Brody said. “I think that is a completely unacceptable excuse.”
The card correctly identifies that voters can vote for Brody in Spanish. But the language at the top identifies a candidate that dropped out as Brody, who is the only woman running for the seat. (Paulo Santana did drop out of the race.)
PHOTO OF CARD WITH ERROR AFTER BRODY'S NAME:
Brody said she was surprised to learn about the card incorrectly identifying her as dropping out because her vote-by-mail ballot didn’t contain the notice. She said she learned about the wrongly printed card after a neighbor and other supporters reached out with pictures.
“My heart dropped,” Brody said. “I couldn’t believe it. I read it 10 times. I thought, this can’t really be happening. How can this be happening to me? I’ve been working so hard and now the Supervisor of Elections is telling voters a vote for me doesn’t count.”
She said she reached out to WPTV when she couldn’t immediately get in contact with anybody from the Supervisor of Elections office, after calling the phone line reserved for candidates.
Brody told WPTV’s Ethan Stein that she believes the card creates a disadvantage for her campaign even though it was only sent to 170 people, because the card is being posted on various social media platforms.
“It puts me at a huge disadvantage,” Brody said. “This is going to be a race won by a small margin. We don’t expect a lot of voters to come out. This race could be won by a handful…The problem with this card is that once they send it out. they lose all control on who sees it.”
She said she wants the Supervisor of Elections to contact all eligible voters in Wellington about the mistake in a letter because the incorrect information is being spread on social media, as well as put out in a press release and notice on their website.
Brody said she also wants the Village of Wellington to contact voters about the mistake along with a full audit and investigation into the Supervisor of Elections office.
"We want to assure all candidates and voters that we take this matter extremely seriously," said Alison Novoa, a spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office. "Our review confirms that this was solely a case of human error, with no mal‑intent or misconduct involved. We have addressed this issue directly with our printer and implemented new safeguards to ensure that all future notices are inserted exactly as approved."
The Supervisor of Elections office added: "Any ballots returned by affected voters before we can reach them will be securely segregated and remain unopened until voter contact is made, or until 7 p.m. on Election Day, March 10, 2026."
A spokesperson declined to allow WPTV to record a conversation for broadcast purposes with Wendy Sartory Link (D), the Supervisor of Elections for Palm Beach County. An official said the office is only contacting around 170 voters who received the inaccurate information.
The official said on Monday they’ve made contact with 48 people after texting, calling and emailing voters. The official said it felt terrible about the mistake and said it doesn’t know how the printer retyped the notice incorrectly, saying it doesn’t generally happen.
"We are confident that we will reach every affected voter and ensure their vote is properly cast and counted for the candidate of their choice," the office said. "All Vote‑by‑Mail packets mailed going forward will contain the corrected notice with accurate information."
