Ridgeview News covered the very painfully boring vote canvass beginning at 1 p.m. and ending shortly after 3 p.m.
The procedure for vote canvassing is for the Commissioners to set a bond that cannot exceed $300 for a recount if requested by any candidate. The Calhoun Commission set the bond at $300.00. The County Clerk then determines which precinct gets canvassed by placing all the precinct numbers in a jar to be drawn from. Precinct 11 was drawn. Once the precinct is drawn the canvass committee begins to count the chosen precinct by hand. The results front he election are on scrolls that look similar to an adding machine roll, which lists each vote individually. The committee begins to read each vote aloud as two other members tally the votes.
If there is a difference or more than 1% between the tabulated results for all offices on all ballots (total votes cast) in a precinct and the hand count result in that precinct, all precincts must be hand counted. Once finished, complete the Canvass Audit Verification Form, and transmit to WVSOS.
During the count I heard chatter from the committee that there were votes that could not be counted because they didn’t print. Although no explanation was made during the canvass as to why this was. The number of unreadable votes (as I understood it) was 22.
Once the votes were tabulated, the County Clerk, Jean Simers, then read off her totals from election night to see if they matched. This is where the 1% comes into play. While I tried to keep a tab of the differences in tabulations, I will tell you it was difficult. I believe the number of differences in votes that I calculated was around 16. But that could be (and probably is) incorrect. At no point while I was there did they say how many was incorrect. Uncertain of what to do regarding the additional 22 unreadable votes, Mrs. Simers went to her office to call the WV Secretary of State’s office to find out what to do.
I was told later that the ballots were returned to the locked room (although Commissioner Hicks left his key on the table), and that it was uncertain what the next step is, possibly a full recount.
I will contact the County Clerk again in the morning for a response and will share that with you in the morning.
