The Kent County Clerk has released findings from the Gaines Township primary election audit.
Gaines Township precinct 8 is the focus. That’s were an election worker has been charged with allegedly tampering with an Electronic Poll Book computer.
The Electronic Poll Book contains confidential voter registration data. The Kent County Clerk’s office explaining it is not connected to voting equipment or the internet.
Three races were audited Tuesday; more than 800 in-person and absentee ballots were hand-tallied.
The Republican governor’s race was verified exactly to the results reported and certified in August. The uncontested Democratic State Representative race. In-person results proved accurate. The absentee ballot count was off by four votes. That’s four additional ballots than were reported and certified.
The in-person results for the contested Republican County Commission primary verified exactly for one candidate and within one vote for another.
“The absentee results in that race were verified within two votes for each candidate. We tallied two more votes than what was certified for one candidate and two less votes than what was certified for the other candidate…Small discrepancies like that are not uncommon. They’re not out of the ordinary when you’re dealing with a hand-tally.”
Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons assisted with the recount.
“What we really wanted to hammer home with this was that we are reaffirming the results that this violation did not impact the outcome of the election or the election results.”
The Electronic Poll Book in question has been turned over to the Kent County Sheriff’s Department crime lab.