Rescan Of Absentee Ballots Adds Four Votes To Totals

The rescanning of Oconee County’s 7,422 Absentee Ballots on Wednesday did not have any impact on the outcome of the county’s elections on June 9, but it did result in the votes of four of the county’s residents being counted that were missed in the first scan.

The rescan had been agreed upon by the county Board of Elections and Registration on Tuesday because the scanner appeared to be not counting some of the Absentee Ballots that had been marked.

Oconee County Director of Elections and Registration Fran Leathers told the Board at its meeting on Friday that the scan of the 7,422 Absentee Ballots had taken seven hours on Wednesday.

Leathers said she used modified parameters that identify the ballots to be reviewed by the Vote Review Panel, which consists of Board of Elections and Registration Members Democrat Ken Davis and Republican Kirk Shook.

On Friday, the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration certified those results, with the four ballots that previously had not been counted included in the totals.

A total of 13,814 (48.3 percent) of the county’s 28,594 registered voters cast a ballot in the June 9 election, which included the postponed Presidential primary from March 24 and the postponed Party Primaries and Non-Partisan Judicial elections originally scheduled for May 19.

The tally includes 4,444 votes (32.2 percent) cast in person on Election Day, 1,946 votes (14.1 percent) cast in person in early voting, 7,422 votes (53.7 percent) cast via Absentee Ballots, and two votes initially designated as provisional (less than a tenth of a percent).

The two provisional votes, cast on election day using the Absentee Ballot form, are now certified. One voter had been at the wrong polling place and the other initially lacked proper identification.

For more on the story, with a video of the meeting on Friday, please go to Oconee County Observations.