Boone County officials are searching for an answer to the computer glitch that spewed out impossible numbers and interrupted an otherwise uneventful election process Tuesday.

The breakdown came as an eager crowd watched computer-generated vote totals being projected onto a wall of the Boone County Courthouse rotunda.

"I about had a heart attack," said County Clerk Lisa Garofolo. "I'm assuming the glitch was in the software."

A lengthy collaboration between the county's information technology director and advisers from the MicroVote software producer fixed the problem. But before that, computer readings of stored voting machine data showed far more votes than registered voters.

"It was like 144,000 votes cast," said Garofolo, whose corrected accounting showed just 5,352 ballots from a pool of less than 19,000 registered voters. "Believe me, there was nobody more shook up than I was."

No points for spelling

Sharp-eyed voters in Thorntown were startled Tuesday to see a spelling mistake on the electronic voting machine ballot for town offices.

Because the election is nonpartisan, all candidates run as independents.

Under each candidate's name was the word "INDEPENDANT."

The misspelling did not affect the outcome, which saw Town Council President Floyd Fairfield ousted and three new members elected to the five-member panel.

Friends to the end

It's rare to see two candidates campaigning for the same office hugging, then standing with their arms around each other.

It happened on Election Day in Lawrence, where good friends Democrat Linda K. Treat and Republican incumbent George F. Callahan Jr. linked up for some friendly chatting at a polling site at Harrison Hill Elementary School.

Treat said Callahan lightheartedly told voters that, "This is Linda Treat. She's running for council," while she responded, "Yes, I'm running against him."

They even laughed about possibly campaigning together on Election Day.

Treat defeated Callahan, a 20-year City Council member, for the District 2 seat.

"I'm happy and sad at the same time," Treat said of her victory. "I'm sad for George."

They had vowed that whoever won, their friendship with each other and their families would remain secure.

Reporters Jim Gillaspy and William Booher and correspondent John Flora contributed to this story.