This year my mother ran for County Commissioner in a very republican county. Although we campaigned hard, the "values" voters were out in force. She lost in what we thought could have been a close race but wasnt. Yesterday, a glitch in the voting machines was detected.
It was discovered that the Franklin County voting machines had been programmed incorrectly and anyone who had voted straight Democratic ticket had their votes go for the Libertarian ticket instead.
This year my mother ran for County Commissioner in a very republican county. Although we campaigned hard, the "values" voters were out in force. She lost in what we thought could have been a close race but wasnt. Yesterday, a glitch in the voting machines was detected.
It was discovered that the Franklin County voting machines had been programmed incorrectly and anyone who had voted straight Democratic ticket had their votes go for the Libertarian ticket instead.
They had to fix it and run all the ballots through again. My mother recieved 600 more votes - not enough to beat the Republican incumbent, but enough to make the race more even. However, one Republican had to give up his seat on the County Council when one Democrat overtook his vote total - which means Franklin County Democrats dont have to endure a total Republican rout.
The error was discovered by Franklin County Democratic Chairman Jim Sauerland, who wondered about the high number of Libertarian votes and checked it out. The Libertarian candidate for the Senate showed up at the recount because he was getting emails from Libertarians everywhere who had seen the numbers and wanted to know if Franklin County was their new Shangri-la.
Of course, this is a small victory - but in Indiana you have to get excited about the small victories.
Instances like these make me wonder why some people so readily dismiss vote recounts in favor of declaring an immediate victor.