The Upshur County Commission tossed out all Election Day optical scan ballot results and recounted them after approximately 430 early voter ballots were double counted on election night.

The county commission found the error when they convened on Monday as the Board of Canvassers to canvass the election results.

County Administrator William Parker said that in the first precinct examined, which happened to be Precinct 4, the number of ballots did not match the number of voters.

They then discovered that the optical scan ballots from early voting were run through first and counted, but then the machine was not reset to zero. Therefore, when the Election Day optical scan ballots were tabulated, the early voting optical scan ballots were counted again.

Almost 1,900 people cast early votes, but only 433 were optical scan, according to Parker. The remainder of the early voting ballots were cast via touch screen.

“On election night, what we should have done was reset the precincts to zero after running the early voting optical scan ballots,” Parker said.

However, the error has now been corrected, according to Parker.

“We canceled all Election Day optical scan ballots and ran those in today,” he said on Tuesday.

This should give the correct number votes for each candidate.

According to Parker, the recount did not affect the outcome of any races.

Everyone lost votes, he said.

The commission sent a letter outlining the problem to local media and the Secretary of State’s office on Tuesday, according to Parker.

The Secretary of State’s office was made aware of the issue in case they receive calls or letters and have questions.

“We just wanted to be up front,” Parker said.

By Tuesday evening, the commission had finished everything but the hand count.

About 100 ballots from Election Day also had to be examined during the canvass because they were not signed.

“The commission is doing the canvass correctly,” Parker said.

Per statute, one precinct must have its votes hand counted, but the board noted that every year the hand count has come out matching the machine count. This year’s hand count will be done Wednesday.

Commissioner Eugene Suder said that despite the extra work, the clerks “had done a tremendous job with the election.”

Anyone with concerns or questions may contact the commission office at 472-0535.

Look for more coverage and new unofficial election results in Friday’s The Record Delta.