SPRINGFIELD — A well-intentioned mailer designed to remind Illinois voters of their right to apply for mail-in ballots has added fuel to the fire of an already fragile mail-in effort.

Letters went out last week from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s office to some 5.4 million voters telling them their local election authority had indicated they had not yet applied for a ballot but they still have time to submit an application.

Problem is, many who received the letters say they did apply for ballots, causing some to worry that the letters were fraudulent, or that their applications had been lost.

But why did so many letters go out to so many people who had already applied?

White’s office pointed blame at the State Board of Elections, which compiled the mailing list.

The election board blamed its list on the two-week time lag between when it received information from local officials about who had not applied and when the letters went out.