From Hidalgo County Public Information Officer Cari Lambrecht
EDINBURG — Primary Election Day results for the Democratic Party have been posted online at www.co.hidalgo.tx.us/elections. These results are correct, as opposed to the results that were posted at 8:35 p.m. The number of precincts reporting at this time is also 100 percent. All 140 precincts have been accounted for.
The reason for the discrepancy in the number of precincts that were shown as “reporting” was due to a software error. During the upload of the initial ten precincts, the software counted both the early voting totals and the first ten precincts, adding that total to the early votes that had already been posted shortly after 7 p.m. In essence, the early vote was reflected twice in the 8:35 p.m. update. This is why it was reflected that 140 of 140 precincts were reporting, when in fact, results from only ten precincts and all early voting locations had been tallied.
The Hidalgo County Elections Department noticed the problem and therefore began the count of the Election Day results from every precinct all over again starting at about 9 p.m.
Early voting totals are correct, and that latest count, which reflects both the early voting totals and Election Day totals in the democratic primary, is also accurate.
The Elections Department apologizes for the delay in the results, but assures voters and candidates on the ballot that every step was taken to make sure that every vote is counted and no vote was counted twice.
“The issue was caught early on, speaking to the ability of our staff to spot discrepancies and take immediate corrective action,” said Yvonne Ramon, Hidalgo County Elections Administrator. “We thank everybody for being patient with us as we resolved this problem.”
Tonight’s (Tuesday night's) delays also resulted from a glitch in the software on the Republican Party totals. After the software vendor troubleshot the problem, it was determined that the Republican primary Election Day votes needed to be counted manually. The count is underway.
Early votes in the Republican Primary are also now available on line.