ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) - An election mapping error that may mean a revote in Clatsop County was missed at least twice before it cast doubt on the results of a county commissioner race.
Before the May election, one of the candidates in the county commission race suspected something was wrong, but a county worker couldn’t explain what had happened.
And the mistake wasn’t noticed in an election two years ago, the Daily Astorian (https://bit.ly/1kua67V) reported.
“It’s like three strikes and we finally found it,” said County Clerk Maeve Grimes.
The error was uncovered after the unofficial tally put Lianne Thompson ahead of Dale Barrett by 99 votes in the race for the District 5 seat on the county commission.
On May 19, a pair of voters called Grimes about the error. That was a day before the vote-by-mail ballots were counted.
It turned out the election mapping put 147 voters from a different district, District 2, into District 5, and 344 voters who were actually in District 5 had been put into District 2.
A total of 60 incorrect ballots were cast.
The error has been pinpointed to the 2011 redrawing of a precinct in Seaside.
Two years ago, the same mapping was in place, and there was an election for the District 2 position, which Sarah Nebeker won by a resounding 71-29 margin.
There was no indication anything was awry, Grimes said.
Weeks before this year’s election, Barrett said, he found discrepancies between his voter list and the computer-based geographic information systems (GIS) election map.
Grimes said a deputy did some digging around, couldn’t explain the discrepancy and didn’t tell her about it.
“I’ve pretty much lost faith and trust in the county myself,” Barrett said. “They could have corrected the ballots at that moment and re-sent them out.”
A revote would cost up to $4,000. Grimes said that once the results are made official in few weeks, she’ll likely make a formal challenge to put the question before a judge.
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Information from: The Daily Astorian, https://www.dailyastorian.com
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