NOVEMBER 15, 2024|
Photo – Ballot computers – Bigfoot99 file photo
County officials have confirmed the accuracy of Carbon County’s election results and explained what happened in Weston County.
During Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, County Clerk, and newly elected commissioner, Gwynn Bartlett provided an update on last week’s election. Clerk Bartlett said roughly 200 fewer residents voted this year compared to 2020. However, the county clerk said the number was higher than the election from two years ago.
Clerk Bartlett said roughly 1,000 people throughout the county registered to vote on election day. The clerk stressed that the voter turnout exceeding 100% was due to same-day registrants and not fraud.
Clerk Barlett said her office received about 2,000 absentee ballots before election day.
Next, the county clerk discussed the election controversy in Weston County. Clerk Bartlett explained that Weston County used an outside company to print their ballots. An error with the first two sets of printed ballots caused Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock to mistakenly send three different versions of the county’s election ballots to voters.
Clerk Bartlett said voters filled in the bubbles next to their chosen candidates and placed their ballots in the counting machines. However, the candidate positions were different between the three sets of ballots. The machines, programmed for the final set, miscounted the votes from the first two ballots. Clerk Bartlett emphasized that the error was due to the Weston County clerk, not the counting machines.
On Friday, November 8th, Weston County officials hand counted the election ballots. Weston County officials posted the corrected election results, showing that House District One Representative Chip Neiman, who was running unopposed, received 1,102 more votes than initially counted.
The newly hand-counted ballots also showed that the Weston County Commissioners race was off by a few hundred votes.
Back at Tuesday’s Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Clerk Bartlett said the machines were not at fault and a hand count isn’t necessary for future elections. Commissioner John Johnson agreed, saying that a hand count opens the door for increased human error.
Clerk Bartlett thanked everyone who helped make Carbon County’s election run smoothly, specifically the 80 volunteer poll workers and judges.
