Right around now, most District households should have their handy 2006 Voters Guide, the booklet running through the details of the upcoming September 12 primary and featuring short vignettes on all the candidates on the ballot. More importantly, though, the booklets each have a specific notation listing a precinct number that track to the polling place each registered voter is to visit to cast their ballot. Well, kind of.

It seems that the company contracted by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics to print and deliver the voter guides didn’t do a very good job — they screwed up the precinct numbers on many of the guides delivered. The problem? Many voters might end up at the wrong polling place on election day. D.C. officials are no doubt a little red in the face, and they are encouraging voters to call (202) 727-2525 or visit the board’s website to verify their precinct number and polling place.

Even more amusing (or is it disturbing?) than the simple snafu is the company that made it, Toucan Printing and Promotional Products. As reported by D.C. Watch:

Toucan is the same company that printed the District’s income tax booklet and forms earlier this year, and failed to include information that the Chief Financial Officer’s office had instructed them to include about how taxpayers could contribute to the District’s Statehood Delegation Fund on their 2005 DC individual income tax returns. In January 2004, the BOEE’s Voter Guides were mailed so late that they arrived at most households on or after the day of the presidential primary. Later that year, the Guides that were mailed for the September 14, 2004, primary election also had mailing labels that directed voters to the wrong polling sites.

And this coming from a company that touts its “service and attention to detail” on its website. Shouldn’t someone somewhere be fired for this one?