2008 Primary Analysis: Over 4,000 Votes Not Counted on Tuesday
by Thomas Brock - May 10th, 2008.Filed under: 2008 Elections, Onslow County Board of Commissioners, Onslow County Board of Elections, Onslow County, NC, Politics.
No doubt, if you keep up with Onslow County news, you know that the Onslow County Board of Elections failed to count over 4,000 votes on Tuesday.
There was a glitch in the computers used to tally the ballots and, apparently, the vote totals from early voting weren’t originally counted in the results.
Fortunately, none of the election results were changed, except the order of the Republican candidates for the Onslow County Board of Commissioners.
What was:
Barbara Melton Ikner 2828 11.76%
Bill Keller 2159 8.97%
Paul Buchanan 2060 8.56%
W. C. Jarman 2035 8.46%
Lionell Midgett 2014 8.37%
became:
Barbara Melton Ikner 3284 11.83%
Bill Keller 2494 8.98%
Lionell Midgett 2348 8.46%
Paul Buchanan 2346 8.45%
W. C. Jarman 2322 8.37%
Though the vote totals changed for the Democratic candidates for County Commission, the order of the top five did not.
I don’t think that there was any intention to not count these votes, though I’m concerned perhaps the Onslow County Board of Elections did not take the necessary time to ensure that all ballots were counted.
This is a mistake that should not happen again. If it does, someone should be held accountable.
Tags:
May 13th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Certainly not earth-shattering in the outcome this time, but definitely cause for concern in November.
Thanks for posting this Thomas, I’d actually not heard about it. (Crazy week and getting crazier.)
May 13th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Thanks, Lou.
You would think that after Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, Boards of Election would’ve evaluated their processes to ensure accuracy.