A routine audit conducted by Cobb County elections officials found about 400 ballots were not included in Nov. 3 election results, but the new votes won’t change the outcome of any races.
The county said Monday that 340 ballots cast at the precinct housed at East Cobb Church of Christ on Roswell Road in Marietta were initially not included in last Tuesday’s tabulation due to a glitch with a memory card.
Cobb County Elections & Registration Director Janine Eveler said results on memory cards for the precinct’s two scanners were to be uploaded to the system’s tabulation server. However, one of those memory cards was skipped and the results on the card were not added to the server.
“We found it by checking the number of votes uploaded against what was documented on the forms by the poll workers,” she said. “Again, that’s why we audit everything.”
Another 25 ballots cast on Election Day at the New Beginnings United Methodist Church precinct in Kennesaw were added to results after the audit found those ballots were never scanned as part of the counting process.
Eveler said the scanner at the precinct jammed for a period of time. While a technician repaired the device, voters were directed to place their ballots in what’s called an emergency slot. Eveler said poll workers should have scanned the ballots after the scanner was repaired or placed them in a bag for scanning at the main elections office headquarters. Instead, they were combined with the ballots that were already scanned, so officials had to scan the entire batch of ballots a second time.
The county also said 34 ballots were added to the results after they cleared the adjudication process. These additional ballots won’t change the outcome of the election, Eveler said.
The audit is part of the normal evaluation process the county does between election night and when the Board of Elections and Registration certifies the results, Eveler said. The board is set to certify the results at noon Friday.
“This is how we can say to the Board that we do not have any discrepancy that affects results and they can certify the election,” she said.
