Delaware County primary count ends Wednesday morning after glitch, procedure problems
MUNCIE, Ind. — The last voting machine delivered its count Wednesday morning and the tally of 2022 primary election in Delaware County was finally completed..
The election produced a scant turnout; 10,714 people cast ballots, or 13.7% of the county's registered voters, which had a role in the difficulty completing the vote tallies Tuesday night, according to Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler.
He said some voting machines that were deployed to precincts stood unused throughout the day amid the light voter turnout. Nevertheless, the unused machines would still have to be checked after polls close to verify they carry no votes. Some poll workers, aware the machines were not used, failed to close them out properly. After those machines had been put away, clerk's office staff had to retrieve all 12 of them and verify they carried no votes.
"That cost us about three hours," Spangler said.
Primary Election 2022: Find local primary election coverage here
Additionally, one vote machine for precincts 81 and 98 had a glitch and did not give up its vote totals, he said. A technician from MicroVote, the company that provides the voting system to the county, was able to fix the machine and retrieve its 48 votes Wednesday morning to close out the election results.
Spangler said the problem with failing to close the machines properly at the end of voting will be eliminated through training going forward.
He said the election turned out to be similar to the 2014 primary election, which also had a dramatically low turnout, 10.87%.
The Republican clerk, whose name was on the GOP ballot unopposed, said that the number of Democrats voting was remarkably low. Democrats usually out poll Republicans in the primary but that didn't happen Tuesday.
"Always in the past they outvote us," he said of primary elections.
This primary, however, the only contested race outside of Democrat party offices was for the Fifth District U.S. congressional race. Otherwise, Democrats didn't have contests to draw voters to the polls.
Indiana Primary election results 2022: How Delaware County voted
Spangler, who was the top vote-getter in the county with 5,768 ballots cast for him, said he was surprised by the margin of victory Sheriff Tony Skinner posted against sitting County Commissioner James King for the GOP sheriff's nod. Skinner received 5,097 votes to 1477 for King.
"I had thought that would be close," he said.
Center Township has been a consistent bastion of Democratic Party power, said Josh Taulbee, county voter registration clerk. On Tuesday, however, Scott Ratliff, the lone Republican candidate for the township advisory board, drew 2,136 votes. Meanwhile, the top vote-getter for Democrats in the advisory board race, William (Billy Mac) Mcintosh Sr., received 1,662 votes.
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This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Primary election 2022: Voter turnout adds to election count issues
