This has caused quite a stir.
In Prince William County, Virginia, election officials have acknowledged a discrepancy of approximately 4,000 votes in favor of former President Trump during the 2020 presidential election, which ultimately saw President Joe Biden winning the state. The Office of Elections in the county revealed that Trump incorrectly received an additional 2,327 votes, while Biden was shorted 1,648 votes.
Notably, U.S. Senate candidates from both parties in the state received too few votes, and a victorious Republican House candidate was deprived of just under 300 votes. The director of elections for the county, Eric Olsen, attributed these reporting errors to a failure in programming the results tapes to a format compatible with state reporting requirements. Attempts to rectify the issue seemed to have resulted in further errors, indicating a lack of proper planning, a challenging election environment, and human error.
It’s emphasized that these errors did not consistently favor any particular party or candidate but were more likely the outcome of procedural challenges and human mistakes. Despite these discrepancies, Biden secured victory in Virginia by over 450,000 votes, and the misreporting issues fell below the 1 percent threshold required to trigger a recount.
The revelation about the misreported figures is linked to a case involving the county’s former registrar, Michele White, who faced charges in 2022 related to corrupt conduct, making false statements, and neglect of duty concerning the 2020 election. These charges have since been dropped.
Eric Olsen, in a statement, underscored the importance of maintaining faith in Virginia’s election systems and highlighted improvements made to address and correct the processes for future contests. He emphasized that while mistakes are regrettable, rectifying them requires diligence and innovation and does not imply a deliberate attempt to undermine the electoral process’s integrity. The investigation into this matter concluded with that determination.