ST. CHARLES COUNTY • Voters in St. Charles County should ignore references to cherry or white ballots on the official reminders they got in the mail recently about Tuesday's presidential primary.

Rich Chrismer, the county's elections director, said Friday that incorrect ballot color designations were inadvertently included. The type a voter actually gets can't be determined until he or she requests a Democratic or Republican primary ballot at the polling place, Chrismer said.

To ensure that voters get the one they want, he said, poll workers will ask each voter's party preference — even if the person simply refers to a color on the reminder.

"The colors weren't supposed to be on the cards at all," Chrismer said.

He said polling place information on the cards is accurate.

Confusing matters further is that all ballots will be white with black print. Differing types merely carry words in the corner denoting them as "blue" or "yellow" or another color.

He said color designations in primaries vary according to party and whether other issues are voted on in a locale. The only such issue Tuesday is in St. Peters, where a hotel tax hike will be decided.

Democratic primary voters in St. Peters will get a ballot designated as cherry and Republican primary voters one designated as yellow. However, Chrismer said, all reminder cards sent to St. Peters voters refer to a cherry ballot.

Democratic primary voters elsewhere in the county get a ballot designated as white and GOP primary voters in those areas get one designated as blue. Reminder cards sent to those areas all refer to white ballots.

Chrismer, a Republican, said the error occurred when a computer program from a previous election wasn't changed to delete color references. He said he didn't know whether his office or the county information systems department was responsible for the mishap.