Georgia: Miscount in DeKalb County race caused by voting computer programming errors | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A programming mistake caused an inaccurate vote count in a DeKalb County Commission race, election officials said Thursday night. A recount will begin Saturday morning, when county election workers will re-scan all paper ballots from that commission district’s 40 precincts. The error resulted in zero election day votes for Michelle Long Spears in all but seven precincts. Spears is currently in third place, outside of a runoff, but the recount could change the outcome. No other races were affected. The problem arose from programming changes to voting equipment to remove a candidate from the ballot after he withdrew from the race for DeKalb Commission District 2, according to the secretary of state’s office. Paper ballots printed from Georgia’s voting touchscreens will ensure accurate results, state Elections Director Blake Evans said. “Georgia’s election system works and is secure,” Evans said. “DeKalb’s elections team is setting an example for the rest of the state of how to properly audit and review results before certification.”

Full Article: Botched vote count in DeKalb race caused by Georgia programming mistake

Pennsylvania: U.S. Supreme Court stay on undated mail ballots injects uncertainty into Senate vote count | Jeremy Roebuck, Jonathan Lai, and Sean Collins Walsh/Philadelphia Inquirer

The U.S. Supreme Court injected fresh uncertainty Tuesday into the ongoing Republican primary recount for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race by temporarily blocking a lower court order on the counting of undated mail ballots, which have become a flash point in the close contest between Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. The two-sentence order — issued by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who oversees emergency matters arising from Pennsylvania for the court — threw a new variable into the high-stakes contest by blocking undated ballots from being counted in an unrelated election from Lehigh County last November. It came just hours after McCormick — who has pushed for undated ballots to be counted — appeared to make progress convincing the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to side with his view. The new cloud of uncertainty came as more counties began recounting votes in the race. Initial results show McCormick trailing Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast. The narrow margin has triggered an automatic recount to verify the winner, who will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November. McCormick on Tuesday opened a new front in the court battles over which votes should count with a lawsuit seeking a hand recount of all ballots in 150 precincts in 12 Pennsylvania counties. The immediate impact of Alito’s order on the Senate race remains to be seen. It focused solely on the counting of votes in a contested 2021 judicial race in Lehigh County. But much like the lower court ruling that prompted Alito’s intervention Tuesday, its repercussions could reverberate widely.

Full Article: Pa. Republican Senate primary: U.S. Supreme Court issues stay on undated mail ballot issue