A MAILING house has been blamed for the early sending out of postal vote applications by the National Party in the Ripon electorate.Nationals candidate for Ripon Wendy McIvor said the party did not break Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) regulations by sending out the applications in the electorate before the issuing of electoral writs.Her comments followed calls by Member for Ripon Joe Helper for the Nationals to apologise to Ripon voters over the incident.Mr Helper claimed the early mail-out meant Ripon voters ran the risk of not having their votes counted at this year's state election if they submitted the National's postal vote application before the issuing of writs tomorrow.However, it is believed the mistake was made by a mailing house, which incorrectly labelled boxes containing the postal vote applications as to be sent out immediately.Australia Post spokeswoman Melanie Ward said attempts were made to stop the mail-out, but it was too late for those bound for the Ripon electorate.A National Party spokesman said late yesterday the error occurred between the mailing house and Australia Post and was not made by the National Party. He said the error had been explained to VEC representatives, who were satisfied with the explanation.Ms McIvor said, "These letters were submitted days in advance with instructions on which day we wanted them sent out. They were sent out earlier than we stipulated. "No illegal practice has been performed and anyone opening this letter can see that they should not be returned until November 4." She said postal votes received before November 4 would be voided. "It was unfortunate that this happened, but it was beyond my control. "The National Party will be addressing the issue."But Mr Helper believes the party should apologies to all Ripon voters and immediately send something in writing to everyone who has received these postal votes.He said Ripon voters should not accept any postal vote applications that arrive before tomorrow if they wanted their vote to count in the election.People who are unable to attend a voting centre on November 27 can submit an early vote at Ripon's Early Voting Centre at Ararat from November 15.Do you have story for Poll Position? Follow the link at www.thecourier.com.au to have your say.