Vermont secretary of state delays canvassing of county primary votes, citing software glitch

The Vermont Secretary of State’s Workplace on Friday delayed the canvassing of county votes solid in Tuesday’s main elections, citing a software program drawback associated to the state’s current Legislative redistricting. 

A spokesperson for Secretary of State Jim Condos, Eric Covey, stated their workplace had “full confidence” within the integrity of the election and the accuracy of vote totals. He stated the issue was restricted to how election outcomes are displayed in official stories to county canvassing committees. Statewide races weren’t affected by the glitch, he stated. 

County canvassing committees are charged with tallying the official vote counts from cities and cities to find out the vote totals — and declare the winner — for candidates in county elections, similar to state’s lawyer, sheriff and state Senate. 

These committees had been initially scheduled to certify their county’s election outcomes by 10 a.m. Friday. The Secretary of State’s Workplace would then certify the statewide outcomes by 10 a.m. subsequent Tuesday.

The county canvassing is now anticipated to happen early subsequent week, Covey stated, as soon as the software program glitch is resolved. His workplace continues to be anticipating with the ability to certify outcomes statewide on Tuesday.

Covey stated the state’s election software program vendor had encountered a problem stopping them from producing stories that county clerks want in an effort to log out on election outcomes at county canvassing committee conferences.

The issue, Covey stated, is particularly linked to the reporting of votes in state Senate districts. These districts had been beforehand drawn round municipal borders, so no city or metropolis was divided into a couple of Senate district. However after the Legislature voted to interrupt up Chittenden County’s six-member district earlier this yr, the ensuing Senate districts bisect three municipalities: Burlington, Colchester and Essex City.

“This complexity has led to cases of candidates showing within the incorrect districts on the canvassing paperwork,” Covey stated. 

The Secretary of State’s Workplace underscored that the county clerks’ canvassing is separate from municipal clerks’ official counting of ballots and certification of outcomes. These municipal counts are correct and the perfect supply of election outcomes, Covey stated.

“It’s merely a problem of the software program displaying the candidates within the appropriate districts,” he stated. “The cases of this are only a few however we’re continuing extraordinarily fastidiously to make sure we keep 100% accuracy.”

The software program glitch has resulted in confusion across the final result of some Senate races, significantly people who look like shut. 

Within the three-seat Chittenden County Central district, two candidates gave the impression to be two votes aside, based on an Related Press rely. That led one candidate, Democrat and Progressive Erhard Mahnke, to file for a recount on Thursday. 

“I’m under no circumstances assured that the outcomes which might be up proper now are going to remain, as a result of every little thing’s been shifting so shortly and we’re nonetheless not seeing any outcomes on the Secretary of State’s web site,” Josh Wronski, government director of the Vermont Progressive Social gathering, stated on Wednesday. 

In keeping with Covey, accuracy is extra necessary than velocity. 

“The Secretary of State’s mission is to offer a safe and correct election,” Covey stated. “The workplace will all the time default to a delay to make sure integrity and confidence of the outcomes when they’re licensed.”