Davison Co. Working To Avoid Another Miscount

by Jill Johnson
November 02, 2012 3:58 PM


The Davison County Auditor's Office has their hands full.

Davison County Auditor Susan Kiepke said, "We're averaging about 200 voters a day which is a lot for this small office."

But Kiepke says she's prepared for anything and everything to happen on election day.
Even hiccups like the one they experienced in June.

Kiepke said, "We have tested and tested and tested. We've run what is called the flush card through several times, which we weren't very familiar with before."

A day after the primary election, counting errors were discovered. Due to an operating error, the machine counted more than 400 ballots twice. It wasn't enough to change the results, but enough to force a recount. Kiepke says her office now knows what to do if it should happen again.

"Now, we've familiarized ourselves with that step and if we do accidentally count a precinct twice we can just flush that whole precinct and recount it," said Kiepke.

And, if that isn't enough, she says a technician with the company that manufactures the machine will be close by in case something else should go wrong.

"I have a tech person from ESNS that will be on site, we also have our I.T. person that we contract with that will be on call, he's five minutes away."

But Kiepke doesn't see that happening this time around. She says her office is comfortable with the system.

"We're ready, we're ready to go. I'm excited about the day and the process," Kiepke said.

As of 2 p.m. Friday, 2,000 people had already voted absentee in Davison County. That's the most they've ever seen in years past.