MEDIA RELEASE: Secretary Pate orders audit of Lucas County precinct, requests recount of county’s election results

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate ordered an audit of unofficial election results in one Lucas County precinct following an error in the unofficial reporting of results in the Lucas County Auditor’s office. While preparing for their canvass of results, the auditor discovered the Russell precinct’s totals were not included. Test data was still in the system instead of the election night results. This error has been corrected, and the new totals have been added to the statewide unofficial results.

The contest primarily impacted by the error was the Second Congressional District race. Due to the error, Secretary Pate ordered an audit of the precinct in question and requested a countywide recount of all results.

“The integrity of Iowa’s elections is my top priority and we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure the vote count is accurate,” Secretary Pate said. “Following last week’s data entry error in Jasper County, my office asked all 99 county auditors to double-check their results. These human errors are unfortunate and frustrating, but the system is working. We have voter ID, paper ballots, post-election audits and a paper trail to protect the sanctity of the vote.”

Lucas County Auditor Julie Masters agrees with Secretary Pate’s request for a countywide recount, which will take place on Thursday.

“Monday afternoon it was determined the results of one precinct in Lucas County was not reported on election night. Fortunately, we have processes in place in Iowa that allowed me to catch the error and correct it before certifying results,” said Auditor Masters.

Election night results are always unofficial. The numbers are not finalized until after counties conduct post-election audits and canvasses, and the numbers are certified on a statewide basis at the end of November. Every county conducted post-election audits in randomly selected precincts to help ensure the integrity of the vote and reviews data from each precinct before the canvass of the votes.

You can view the unofficial results for every county at this link.

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