Missed votes change Humboldt County Commission race

Tuesday, September 14, 2004
 (09-14) 13:27 PDT WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (AP)

There was a change in the outcome of the Humboldt County Commission primary race after it was discovered that votes from three outlying areas weren't counted in the election night total.

After votes were tallied election night, it appeared Howard Hammond and Ron Schrempp would face off on the November ballot.

The original count from Sept. 6 showed Schrempp had 476 votes; Hammond, 372; and Amos, 341.

But officials later determined votes from outlying precincts in Orovada, McDermitt and Paradise weren't counted because cartridges from the new, touch screen voting machines were not properly downloaded.

A subsequent tally showed Garley Amos had beaten Hammond by 13 votes to claim second place and a spot on the general election ballot.

In the new totals, Schrempp received 548 votes; Amos, 423; and Hammond, 410.

Humboldt County Clerk Tami Rae Spero told county commissioners Monday that representatives of Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., who were on hand to assist in the election, failed to tally the votes gathered from six precincts.

The voter cartridges were uploaded from the machines, but not added into the final tally, she said.

"It's like the box got here but was never opened," Spero said.

Steve George, spokesman for the Secretary of State's office in Carson City, attributed the snag to human error.

"The technician didn't follow the procedure correctly," George said, adding that the error "was caught in the post audit."

"It again points out the necessity and wisdom of the paper audit trail," George said.

Spero agreed.

"It's quite clear that it's not an equipment error," she said. "It was a technician error."

Though other election numbers changed slightly after the error was detected, the county commission race was the only where the outcome was different, Spero said.