Ruling party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) suffered a new blow on its road to the October midterms on Thursday as the National Electoral Board rejected its request to reprint the single paper ballots for Buenos Aires province.

The request came after candidate José Luis Espert dropped out of the race due to growing criticism over his connections to accused drug trafficker Fred Machado. Karen Reichardt — real name Karina Vázquez — will lead the ballot, as she was listed as second behind Espert. She will be followed by Diego Santilli, who LLA requested be placed at the top of the ballot but was turned down on Monday.

In its decision, the electoral board said the reprint request was “materially, temporally, and legally unfeasible.” It also stated that the current ballots will remain “fully valid and effective as an official voting instrument” and “must be used in the election.”

This means that voters in Buenos Aires will see the ballots with Espert and Reichardt’s faces when they go into the ballot box, as they were the original top-two candidates. 

The court based its decision on three arguments. Firstly, the estimated cost of reprinting all the ballots would amount to more than twelve billion pesos (just under US$8.4 million at the official rate). According to the court’s ruling, that was “almost all of the resources the interior ministry currently has to cover all election expenses.”

It also failed to find precedents, as similar cases that saw candidates resigning or dying did not have the ballots reprinted. Lastly, the court found that it would “set a precedent of enormous institutional gravity,” opening up the possibility of a reprint after any resignation, replacement, or death, “permanently compromising the stability of the electoral process.”

“For all these reasons, this board concludes that the request must be rejected, not only because it is materially, temporally, and legally impossible, but also because of its economic, institutional, and operational consequences, and because of the risk of setting a precedent that would undermine the stability and predictability of the electoral system.”