It's official: Elections board counts another 258 votes

Seneca County Board of Elections counted the remaining votes and certified official totals for the general election at its meeting Monday. An additional 258 votes were counted that had not been included in the unofficial numbers Election Day. The final tally showed 19,156 voters of the county's 34,681 registered voters turned out for the general election, or 55.23 percent. "Poll workers all did their job. It all came together," said Director Jim Ehrman. "We like it when it's like this." Ehrman said a 55-percent voter turnout is high for a mid-term election in Seneca County. "Not for a presidential race, but for a governor's race," he said. Eleven people correctly voted for write-in candidates. To be counted, write-in votes must be recorded on the ballot correctly and votes must be for a pre-approved write-in candidate. Early voting numbers totaled 4,226. The board voted to accept 44 absentee ballots received after the election, but postmarked Nov. 5 or earlier. Another 18 ballots were declined by the board because they were postmarked after Nov. 5. The board voted to accept two ballots from people living outside of the United States, but declined one ballot that was received Nov. 19. Provisional ballots approved from registered voters included: • 135 from voters who moved within the county. • 39 from voters who moved outside of the county. • 8 with name changes. • 18 voters who requested but did not receive absentee ballots through no fault of theirs. • 9 "list maintenance" votes, which included voters who hadn't cast a ballot for four years but still were registered. • 2 votes from voters who were dropped from the voter rolls because they hadn't voted in more than six years, but were added back because of a pending lawsuit. • 1 identification issue that was resolved. The board rejected 34 ballots from voters who were not registered in any county, one person who voted in Seneca County but should have voted in Hancock County, four ballots that did not have valid addresses on provisional envelopes, and 10 voters who voted in the wrong precinct and chose not to correct their error. In addition to the official vote count, board members discussed the planned purchase of new voting equipment. The new technology has a touch-screen instead of paper ballots and enhanced security in the software it uses. The board is awaiting final pricing and plans to consider the equipment purchase at its Dec. 3 meeting. The new equipment would increase voting costs in the county by about $40,000, Ehrman said. If the board approves the new equipment, he said the matter would go to the Seneca County commissioners for approval.