PENDER COUNTY — One county in the tri-county region hit a glitch when it came to reporting voting results on Super Tuesday.
READ MORE: Primary Election 2024: Check in for results
According to a release from the county, Pender was the last in the state to report its results.
“Our most important job is to ensure that every voter’s votes are counted, and that elections in Pender County are administered in accordance with state law,” Pender County Elections Director Greg Jackson said in the release. “Ensuring the integrity of the election results is more important than reporting results quickly.”
No precincts had reported by 11 p.m.; the results on the state board of election site note all 18 precincts were counted by 1:11 a.m. Pender County said it was the last in the state to put forth results.
Problems began Tuesday morning. Voting sites opened on time, though computers and printers at some precincts were malfunctioning.
WHQR reported Tuesday the authorization to vote forms, which voters sign to get a ballot, were not printing. Theressa Lewis, deputy director of the Pender County Board of Elections, told the outlet it didn’t stop voting and ballots were put in an emergency bin, to be counted.
According to the county board of elections it shifted to a contingency plan and a State Board of Elections official was in Pender County to observe and assist.
Port City Daily asked the county what the plan is exactly, in addition to how many printers and computers were affected at which precincts; this will be updated upon response.
“We always hope that we don’t need to use our contingency plans, but yesterday we did,” Jackson added in the release. “I am proud of the work that our elections officials did to ensure the integrity of the Primary Election in Pender County in the face of unexpected technical difficulties.”
According to the Pender County Board of Elections Chair Carol Ann Johnson, every vote was counted. PCD also asked the county if the votes were counted by hand or machine and how many people were working on it until the early hours of the morning. A response was not received by press.
“County officials are very confident that the election was administered appropriately despite the timing of the results being reported,” the release stated.
Of the county’s 49,000 voters, 10,506 ballots were cast in the Primary Election. All results are unofficial until the canvass is held March 15.
PCD also reached out to commissioner in the county but did not hear back by press.
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