More than 1,100 votes went uncounted in Richland County elections earlier this month because one voting machine cartridge went unaccounted for.
Election Commission Director Howard Jackson said in a prepared statement that one of the personal electronic ballots, or PEBs, from an absentee ballot voting machine was not read on election night, causing 1,100 out of the 30,000 total votes to go uncounted.
The realization that approximately three percent of the votes cast had not been counted came after a routine audit was performed by the State Election Commission.
“I do sincerely apologize to anyone whose vote might not have been counted,” Jackson said. “The omission of these votes is unacceptable.”
According to Jackson, the election staff had procedures in place, but those procedures were not followed on election night. Jackson said the commission will follow all procedures in the Dec. 3 strong mayor referendum vote.
An agenda for Thursday’s election commission meeting listed “personnel matters,” but Jackson would not comment on them, only saying that corrective actions would be taken.
“Every vote matters,” he said. “Every vote counts.”
The lost votes would not have had an effect on the outcome of any of the Nov. 5 elections, Jackson said. He added that the winners of the races would have had a larger margin of victory had the 1,100 votes been counted.
Around 500 votes on the cartridge were cast in the Columbia mayoral election between Mayor Steve Benjamin and challenger Moe Baddourah.
The election commission has faced sharp criticism in the past year after the 2012 presidential election saw long lines caused by a lack of voting machines. This year, the commission added locations for absentee voting and several voting machines to precincts on election day.