A Southern Indiana election official says some ballots that ran through voting machines on Election Day were not actually counted.
The Clark County Election Board will canvass votes at 10 a.m. Friday to review affected ballots.
The error was discovered on Wednesday. Clark County Clerk Susan Popp said the issue was with absentee ballots that weren’t tabulated in the initial unofficial results.
“It appears that one machine, that we can tell so far, either the [media] stick wasn’t read properly or not at all, or there was a problem with it,” Popp told WFPL News.
The clerk’s office was able to isolate the machines and ballots that were impacted.
The missing votes could have major ramifications for the too-close-to-call race for the District 71 state representative seat.
As of Thursday morning, Republican challenger Scott Hawkins — a high school teacher and Jeffersonville City Council member — led incumbent Democratic state Rep. Rita Fleming by 35 votes. Hawkins is claiming victory, but Fleming hasn’t conceded.
“The Indiana House Democratic Caucus remains confident that after all the votes are counted, Rita Fleming will remain the representative for Indiana’s 71st House district,” said Hannah Smith, communications director for the Indiana House Democratic Caucus, in a statement.
Though the uncounted ballots could affect the outcome in the race, Popp said her main concern is to ensure voters are heard.
“The main thing is we want to make sure that everyone’s vote gets counted,” Popp said.
Neither Fleming nor Hawkins have responded to requests for comment from WFPL News.
This story may be updated.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec, Inc. and the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation.
