The ballots of 62 voters were invalidated by mix-ups at two polling stations, the election board of Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, said Sunday.
The voters were issued ballots for the constituency and proportional-representation sections of the House of Councilors election in the wrong order. If the 62 voters inadvertently wrote their choice of candidate on the wrong paper, their votes will not count.
A similar mistake occurred at a polling station in Isa, Kagoshima Prefecture, affecting 18 voters. The local election board apologized to them as their votes may now be invalid.
Meanwhile, in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, the local election board erroneously issued ballots to a woman in her 80s who had forgot that she already voted, it said.
The woman was accompanying a friend to a polling station when she was issued ballots by an election board official who neglected to check if she had already voted.
The woman, who had voted early, cast a fresh set of ballots anyway.
After realizing her mistake, she informed the officials but nothing could be done.
They decided to let both her earlier and Sunday votes stand because there was no way to identify her ballots.