A northern Virginia county is acknowledging that it underreported President Joe Biden’s margin of victory there over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election by about 4,000 votes. It was the first detailed accounting of the errors that initially became public as part of a criminal case. Thursday’s admission from the Prince William County Office of Elections comes a week after prosecutors dropped charges against the county’s former registrar. Counts were also off by lesser margins in a Senate and congressional race. In a statement, the county’s current director of elections emphasized that the mistakes did not come close to affecting the outcome of any race.

A Northern Virginia county acknowledged it underreported President Joe Biden’s margin of victory over Donald Trump there in the 2020 presidential election by about 4,000 votes, the first detailed accounting of errors that came to light in 2022 as part of a criminal case.

The admission Thursday from the Prince William County Office of Elections comes a week after prosecutors from the Virginia Attorney General’s office dropped charges against the county’s former registrar, Michele White.

Counts were also off in races for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, though by lesser margins.

In a statement, the county’s current registrar, Eric Olsen, emphasized that the mistakes did not come close to affecting the outcome of any race and “did not consistently favor one party or candidate but were likely due to a lack of proper planning, a difficult election environment, and human error.”

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    179·
    8 months ago

    Hey y’all remember that time Katharine Harris purged 120,000 mostly-black voters from the records just prior to the FL 2000 pesidential election that Al Gore won but got denied by Katharine Harris and a conservative SCOTUS? Member that?

    Aw man and then we had 9/11 and Iraq II, the Sanctity of Marriage Act and the financial system collapse?

    And she bought the voter list from Texas! Which. Huh.

    • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
      53·
      8 months ago

      Remember how a bunch of Republican staffers rioted and tried to intimidate the vote counters in Florida? (The “Brooks Brothers riot”.) Remember when the Supreme Court halted the vote count and declared Bush has won? Remember how the eventual full count of the votes showed Gore won by all metrics?

      I fucking remember that.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        3·
        8 months ago

        (The “Brooks Brothers riot”.)

        It was a coup. Call it what it was. It was a fucking coup. And a successful one.

        • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          8 months ago

          I mean that by itself wasn’t, but yeah overall the Bush administration and 2000 Republican Party is just as guilty of pulling a coup as Trump. Moreso, even. (Actually a lot moreso.)

          The country just turns a blind eye because they don’t want to admit the whole bush presidency was illegitimate.

      • nicetriangle@kbin.social
        12·
        8 months ago

        I’ve thought a lot about how a Gore presidency could have panned out for the US vs what ended up happening instead.

    • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
      614·
      8 months ago

      Member that time gas prices went up 30 CENTS 1 month into Joe Biren’s term?? That is worse than all that