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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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Officials have discovered that thousands of ballots were left out of reported election results in two Idaho counties during post-election reviews.
More than 2,600 ballots were either omitted from reported results or went uncounted on election night in two Idaho counties following last week’s midterm elections, prompting a full recount in one county.
Latah County in North Idaho began a full recount Tuesday after local officials discovered that votes from 2,342 ballots had not been included in publicly reported results.
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Latah County Recounts Ballots
The ballots, representing a portion of early voting, had been tabulated by election machines but were not included in the county's publicly reported results. The discrepancy was discovered during the county's review ahead of its official canvas.
Laura Heinse, a Democratic candidate for county commissioner, separately filed a formal complaint asking the Secretary of State’s Office to require a full recount of her race. She argued that the omission raised questions about election-night reconciliation and whether other reporting discrepancies existed.
“This is a significant discrepancy in results, and we are taking it very seriously,” Secretary of State Phil McGrane said in a statement on Monday. “Every Idahoan needs to have confidence that their vote counted, and we’re working closely with Latah County Clerk Julie Fry and her team to ensure the results are accurately reported, and every vote is properly accounted for.”
Newsweek reached out to McGrane via email for comment.
An early review by the Secretary of State’s Office indicated that the omitted votes would not change the winner of any race. However, the size of the discrepancy drew particular concern because several contests were relatively close, including races for three state legislative seats, two county commission seats, county clerk and county treasurer.
The recount began at the Latah County Courthouse on November 10 and was open to public observation. The recount is expected to delay the county’s certification of the results until Thursday afternoon.
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Second Idaho County Reports Ballot Error
A second discrepancy emerged Tuesday, when officials announced that 333 ballots in Bannock County had not been counted on election night. All 333 ballots came from the Pocatello 2 precinct.
“Once again, this demonstrates the importance of the reconciliation process we use to verify election results following every election,” McGrane said. “While I am thankful that these ballots were identified, we will be working to determine why these ballots were not processed on election night and working with counties across the state to reinforce our election processes.”
The 333 previously uncounted ballots have since been tabulated, and no race outcomes changed.
“Needless to say, this should not have happened. We take pride in Bannock County in the work that goes into running our elections,” Bannock County Clerk Jason Dixon said in a statement. “We are working closely with the Secretary of State’s office to ensure full transparency and to determine if additional steps can be taken to ensure this does not happen. I want Bannock County voters to know your votes will count.”
On Friday, the State Board of Canvassers will meet to initiate audits of election results statewide, and next week auditors will be traveling to randomly selected counties and precincts throughout the state to conduct hand counts and review the reported results.
The Idaho errors follow a similar results-reporting failure in Seminole County, Georgia, where a post-election review found approximately 388 more Election Day voter check-ins than ballots included in the reported totals. Officials determined that results associated with a voting-system memory card had not been uploaded into the county’s election management system.
Once the results were added, the unofficial leader in the State House District 154 race changed. Republican incumbent Gerald Greene went from trailing Democratic challenger Harry James by 58 votes to leading by 262, prompting Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to open an investigation into how the error occurred and whether required procedures were followed.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Cristina Diciu.
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