Election machines in two precincts in Virginia recorded more votes than ballots cast in the midterm elections. These two polling places are in the 7th and 10th Districts, where two Democratic Party congresswomen, Jennifer Wexton and Abigail Spanberger, won. As indicated in the electoral process, officials count the ballots on several occasions.
According to a report by the Election Process Education Corporation (EPEC), officials at Prince William County polling places P-612 and P-104 counted fewer votes than were recorded on the machines. In the first precinct, the scanner counted 531 ballots while 504 were deposited. Of these 27 votes, 22 went to Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger. In the P-104 center, officials counted 1,505 votes and the machines registered about 10 more.
Although the machines counted a greater number of votes than ballots, this error would not have had an effect on the final results. The Prince William County Elections Office has yet to explain the cause of the problem.
Intercessors for America reports that EPEC "is urging Virginia's public election officials to verify scanner machine ballot counts before certification of results in key precincts as a result of recent findings," to which it added:
Although the number of ballots impacted was small, the repeated findings raise questions about the origin of the errors and whether the machines were operating correctly.
Not the first election problem in Prince William County
In September, former Prince William County voter registrar Michele White was charged with two felony counts of corrupt conduct and making a false statement and a misdemeanor count of willful neglect of duty.
The official resigned without giving any reason, although Registrar General Eric Olsen admitted that there were "discrepancies."
