LATAH COUNTY, Idaho — Latah County officials are recounting all ballots from last week’s election after the county discovered that more than 2,000 votes were left out of the final totals published online.
As Latah County officials recounted the votes today, a room full of community members and candidates watched every move.
One voter said that when he heard about the county’s error, he had some questions.
“My reaction was one of wanting to know where the process went wrong — what happened and why?” said Jerry Leonard, who lives in Latah County.
County Clerk Julie Fry says more than 18,000 people voted in the county. However, the county’s online results list only about 15,000 ballots cast.
Fry said all votes were counted, but a batch of ballots from early voting at the fairgrounds wasn’t reported in the final totals online. She says that even with those votes added, she doesn’t expect the results to change.
Laura Heinse, a county commissioner candidate who lost her race by about 200 votes, said she thinks the recount could still change the outcomes. She also argued the error wasn’t made public quickly enough.
“Over 2,000 ballots is a big, big deal, and there’s been some cavalier responses from the clerk’s office and from candidates, and I’m concerned about that. So I think the public really wants to see trust rebuilt if possible,” Heinse said.
Fry says she discovered the problem on Friday and contacted the Idaho Secretary of State’s office right away, according to outlined procedures. She says she wants to correct the error through this public recount.
“I know it’s frustrating for people. I know people feel like ‘Oh, you’re just hiding it from them,'” Fry said. “The reason we’re doing this whole process today is to bring about that trust and transparency and let everybody know what happened.”
The county and the Secretary of State’s office say they are taking steps to keep the error from happening again.
Latah County has not yet released the results of the recount.
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