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ANCHORAGE-- A delay in sending out hundreds of absentee ballots should not prevent anyone from getting their ballots postmarked by Election Day, a member of Lt. Gov. Loren Leman?s staff said Monday.

The problem with the absentee ballots arose Thursday night at the Juneau post office because of incorrect information that the Division of Elections provided on cover sheets accompanying two stacks of ballots, said Annette Kreitzer, Leman?s chief of staff.

As lieutenant governor, Leman oversees the Division of Elections.

The problem caused a 12-hour delay in sending out more than 1,000 ballots.

The problem was not caused by too little money in the Division of Elections postage account, she said.

?We had more than enough in our postage account to cover it,? Kreitzer said.

A Division of Elections supervisor was supposed to make sure that the number of ballots indicated on the cover sheets corresponded with the actual ballots. The numbers were off, Kreitzer said.

Two deliveries of ballots arrived at the Mendenhall Post Office at about 5:15 p.m. Thursday. The post office is about a half-mile from the airport where all bulk mail is processed.

Postal clerk John Zahasky could not contact anyone at the Division of Elections to discuss the discrepancy, so some of the ballots were held until Friday morning when the problem could be resolved.

The first batch of ballots actually numbered 917, but the cover letter indicated there were 615. The second batch was 1,499, but the letter said 660. The foul-up meant that 1,141 absentee ballots were delayed.

?It is just human error,? Kreitzer said. ?Of course it is not good to have any delay of any ballots, even 12 hours,? so close to the election, she said.

Kreitzer said postal officials said the delay should not interfere with people getting their return ballots postmarked by Tuesday.

Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday. They have 10 days to arrive at the Division of Elections if mailed within the United States and 15 days if they are from overseas.

In the future, the post office will have after-hours numbers to reach people in the Division of Elections, Kreitzer said. Juneau Postmaster Kent Eriksen also said he would be more personally involved in the future to prevent a recurrence.