LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Americans, we all have one thing in common: the right to make a choice about who should lead on every level of government.
"Every vote does matter," said Mitz Nabekura, a voter in Louisville, Kentucky. Since becoming an American citizen in 2006, voting has been extremely important to him.
Nabekura wanted to be sure everyone still had a voice, even during the coronavirus pandemic. He was among the more than 230,854 people in Kentucky who requested an absentee ballot for this year's primary.
Nabekura said he requested his ballot exactly one month before the election on June 23, but the form was not sent to him until the week before the deadline.
Once he received his ballot, Nabekura said he mailed it to the Jefferson County Clerk's Office immediately, but he believed it got there too late. It wasn't counted in the 189,010 votes marked as returned.
"For me, the fact that I worked so hard at it, and this particular vote was not counted. That was very upsetting," Nabekura said.
He realized his frustrations were bigger than just himself after hearing a report released by the Kentucky Board of Elections Tuesday. He found out he was among 8,380 other people in Jefferson County alone whose votes weren't counted in the Kentucky primary.
"I was shocked, I couldn't believe it," Nabekura said.
The ballots were rejected for several reasons, including late submission, but nearly 4,000 were marked as having "No Voter Signature," according to the Kentucky Board of Elections. Many voters did not know the ballots required multiple signatures on both the interior and exterior envelopes.
"It shouldn't be like that, it should be just as easy as walking into a place and casting your ballot," Nabekura said. "I feel discouraged that it didn't get counted but I'm still going to vote, definitely."
He hopes changes will be made before the November election.
"The election in the fall is going to be very very consequential and I would be very upset if this happened again," Nabekura said.
Contact reporter Jessie Cohen at JCohen@whas11.com and follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
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