“The trust of the voters is probably the most important thing I do,” LaRose said.
The problem occurred when voting machines were not shut down properly because of a lack of training, he said.
“That process of regaining the trust ... begins now,” LaRose said noting processes are being updated and put into place.
RELATED: Miami County leaders meet to discuss the 6,200 votes that went uncounted
Elections Board Chairman Dave Fisher said he and the board were “sick” from what occurred. “We are going to bring back the trust,” he said.
The elections board Jan. 22 fired elections Director Beverly Kendall and said an investigation into the election and policies and procedures was needed. The board also approved amended certified results of the election to reflect the counting of the previously uncounted votes. Those votes were by those who voted early on touch screen machines in the elections office. The addition of the uncounted votes did not change any election outcomes.
For the full Report on Requirements and Recommendations for Miami County Board of Elections November 2018 General Election, click here.
The error was found after the Secretary of State’s office questioned election participation numbers Dec. 20. Kendall said the uncounted votes were found that afternoon and board Chairman Dave Fisher notified.
Deputy Director Ian Ridgeway has been overseeing the office following Kendall’s firing and the elections operations being placed on state oversight by LaRose. Ridgeway has been with the elections office since late October.
Since the election, Ryan King left the board at the end of his term in February when the county Republicans voted to put Jim Oda of Piqua on the board. The Republicans held a no confidence vote for the second Republican Rob Long of Troy. He continues on the board. The Democrats are Audrey Gillespie and Fisher, who was reappointed by the Democrats in January to another term.
RELATED: Paper ballots likely to replace touchscreen voting for many area voters
Jon Keeling of the Secretary of State’s Office said investigation goals included to “make sure such a failure does not happen again in Miami County, or any county.”
After the error was found, efforts were made to identify what happened, including in discussions with equipment vendor Dominion Voting. A recording provided by election officials of a telephone meeting with election officials and Dominion representatives in early January included discussions about the early votes from touch-screen machines used in the elections office not being included when equipment did not pull all the vote total data.
A Dominion representative said the transfer required three steps, but only one was taken. Fisher said a counting issue was recognized Election Night, but a Dominion representative and an elections employee assured the problem had been corrected.
The elections precinct voting detail report for Nov. 6 posted on the board of elections web site dated Nov. 26 shows the vote for each race and issue by Election Day polling numbers and absentee votes.
The absentee votes were broken down into TS (touch screen) and OS (optical scan). The TS column lists zeroes throughout the report. The optical scan lists numbers for ballots counted from voters living in those precincts. The touch screen machines were used for the in-office early voting, while the optical scan was used for paper ballots distributed for absentee voting.
An amended certified report approved by the elections board in January included numbers where the zeroes were in the Nov. 26 report. That report also was posted on the website.