Problem stemmed from a failure to properly program result tapes, officials say
Virginia election officials say that thousands of votes were misreported in Prince William County during the 2020 presidential election.
President Joe Biden, initially reported to have received 142,863 votes in the county, actually received about 1,650 more, officials said in a recent statement.
Then-President Donald Trump was said to have received 81,222 votes but received about 2,320 fewer than reported.
Michele White, the county’s top election official during the 2020 contest, was charged in 2023 with altering election results, although two charges were later dropped.
“Election results were improperly reported by the previous administration during the 2020 election. Our office reported this issue to the Virginia Department of Elections and voluntarily cooperated with the attorney general’s office,” Eric Olsen, the current county director of elections, said in a statement.
“We are pleased that the attorney general’s investigation into the 2020 election results encouraged the Prince William County Office of Elections to reform their processes and add transparency, which will increase confidence and better serve Virginians,” a spokesperson for Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican elected in 2022, told The Epoch Times.
The Virginia Department of Elections declined to comment.
The campaigns of President Biden and President Trump didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Results for other races also were misreported. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) received 1,589 more votes than reported while his challenger, Republican Daniel Gade, received 107 more votes than reported, according to officials.
In a race he won by more than 80,000 votes, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) was also reported to have received about 300 fewer votes than he actually did.
“Other contests had negligible differences or no discrepancies at all,” Mr. Olsen said.
The misreported votes, amounting to less than 1 percent of the totals in each race, wouldn’t have triggered recounts, as they fall below the state law’s threshold for a recount.
‘Obsolete Hardware’
Officials said the misreporting appeared to stem from a programming problem.
“The reporting errors were presumably a consequence of the results tapes not being programmed to a format that was compatible with state reporting requirements.
“Attempts to correct this issue appear to have created errors. The reporting errors did not consistently favor one party or candidate but were likely due to a lack of proper planning, a difficult election environment, and human error,” Mr. Olsen said.
Lauren Bowman Bis, director of communications for the nonprofit Public Interest Legal Foundation, reviewed the explanation.
“These errors were caused by Prince William County using obsolete voting hardware. Modern voting machines do not have this problem. Now, the county must learn from its mistakes that occurred in 2020 to ensure they don’t happen again in 2024,” Ms. Bis told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Olsen said that improvements and updates have already been made to the process for reporting and validating results.
“Critically, all PWC results tapes are now published online for public review. The Virginia Department of Elections has also adopted an updated reporting system with additional results validation standards,” he said.
‘Mistakes’
Officials said the misreporting came from mistakes.
“Mistakes are unfortunate but require diligence and innovation to correct. They do not reflect a purposeful attempt to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and the investigation into this matter ended with that conclusion,” Mr. Olsen said.
“We have worked to bring transparency to the reporting of an election that happened three years ago. This dedication remains and applies to all current and future elections. The public should have faith in the thousands of tireless public servants and volunteers who preserve and protect our democracy.”
That position contrasts with the one offered in court documents in the case against Ms. White.
Ms. White “altered the election results within the state reporting system” and the alterations “resulted in the false reporting of the election results from Prince William County,” one filing stated.
That filing was written by lawyers for Ms. White and summarized arguments from prosecutors. Mr. Olsen previously declined to comment on the case.
Ms. White was charged with corrupt conduct, making a false statement regarding an election, and neglecting her duty as an election officer. Two charges were dropped in December 2023 after a key witness changed his story, leaving “significant inconsistent statements,” prosecutors said in a filing.
A judge approved the dropping of the remaining charge early this month.
Mr. Miyares said in a statement to a local outlet that “in preparation for trial, we learned that several of the witnesses interviewed unexpectedly changed their statements,” adding: “This case was heavily dependent upon witness testimony, and the inconsistencies in these witness statements forced us to reluctantly withdraw the charges.”
Zachary Stafford, an attorney representing Ms. White, told The Associated Press that “the evidence is clear that Ms. White did not commit any crimes during her tenure as registrar in Prince William County, and the Attorney General’s office wisely dropped the charges.” He also said that “Ms. White was a dedicated public servant, and the evidence shows that she conducted an accurate election in 2020.”
Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at zack.stieber@epochtimes.com