ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A local printing company is acknowledging its error in causing a downstate ballot problem where the wrong names and addresses appeared on thousands of absentee ballots. 

On Tuesday, the New York City Board of Elections said Phoenix Graphics in Rochester was to blame for a mishap in Brooklyn that sent wrong ballots to nearly 100,000 voters. The board says voters received their absentee ballots on Monday, but when they opened them those ballots had return envelopes with a different voters’ name. 

On Wednesday, Phoenix Graphics, which says it is the largest ballot producer in the state, sent out a statement saying a mechanical issue was behind the mistake.

"We at Phoenix Graphics have learned that we experienced mechanical-inserting issues when producing 2020 General Election Absentee ballots for Kings County and Nassau County. We estimate this has affected less than 1 percent of the mailings, of what was the first of many absentee-ballot orders for these counties. Future mailings will not be affected. Phoenix Graphics is in the process of reprinting and mailing all materials to correct the project and will be covering all expenses related to production and postage.

"We have prided ourselves on accuracy and quality in our 40-year history of printing ballots. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience that has occurred. We are actively making necessary production adjustments to prevent such errors in the future."

—Sal DeBiase, President, Phoenix Graphics

Despite the issue, both the republican and democratic commissioners of the Monroe County Board of Elections continue to express confidence in Phoenix Graphics.

A representative of Democratic Commissioner Jackie Ortiz explained over the phone that the error doesn't raise any concerns, because it has no effect on local elections and they are only focused on getting ready for November.

Republican Commissioner Lisa Nicolay added that mistakes happen and she has no reason to believe it will be an issue moving forward.

While the Phoenix Graphics incident wasn't addressed specifically in the presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, the issue of election integrity did come up.

Biden encouraged voters to cast votes in whatever way best suited them, expressing confidence in mail-in voting.

He also used the words of the president's own staff against him. 

"His own Homeland Security director, as well as the FBI director, said there is no evidence at all that mail-in ballots are the source of being manipulated and cheating," said Biden.

While President Trump argued that since mail-in voting will be done on such a large scale this year, it is much more susceptible to fraud.

"They found some that just happened to have the name Trump, just the other day in a waste paper basket. They are being sent all over the place. They sent two to a Democrat area. They sent out a 1,000 ballots and everybody got two ballots. This is going to be a fraud like you've never seen," said Trump.

Phoenix Graphics did not say when voters would recieve their replacement ballots.