On May 20, Terry Fiddler won the Democratic bid for the District 45 House of Representatives seat. A few days later, a recount revealed that Linda Tyler actually won the election.
A recent audit of the election determined the error to be human in nature and a news release from former election commission chairman Bruce Haggard and County Clerk Melinda Reynolds said the mistake was a human error that could have been avoided by more careful proofreading in the testing processes recommended by the manufacturer of the voting machines and by more "thorough election night checks."
So what we appear to have here is not flawed equipment, but careless oversight of the equipment's use.
This is the second election mishap in the last three elections.
In November 2006, what was determined to be human error caused those results to be temporarily inaccurate. In that instance, early voting numbers were included twice once as early voting and again with the election day totals. This error was caught on election night, and did not result in the wrong person being declared the winner.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for this most recent election night folly. And had Tyler not called for a recount, we'd have never known that Fiddler wasn't the real winner of the Democratic bid for the District 45 House of Representatives seat. He'd be campaigning now for November, instead of Tyler.
Tuesday, Haggard resigned from his position as election commission chairman, citing the time commitment required by the position. Haggard wasn't the only individual responsible for what led to the reporting of the wrong winners.
An election isn't something that should be taken lightly. As we mentioned earlier, had Tyler not asked for a recount, we'd never learned she was the true winner. This leaves us wondering if any other elections in Faulkner County were inaccurately reported, but were never caught.
The citizens of Faulkner County deserve to have their votes counted and reported accurately, and without fear or concern about the validity of the results.
Elections come at great cost to the taxpayer, and it is also the taxpayer who pays for these mistakes. The results should be right the first time.
The news release read: "The lesson to be learned from the audit is that the election machines and election software provide very quick and accurate results but it takes humans proofreading and testing to be sure that all races are on the ballots and reported as they are supposed to be."
Proofreading and testing are a must when it comes to preparing for and concluding an election. But the real lesson to be learned from these human mistakes is that great care and awareness should be given to ensure obtaining accurate results.
Oversight is key to getting these elections right. Let's hope the November election goes well and without problems. There's no excuse for a county not to have the ability to accurately plan, conduct and tabulate an election. The voters and candidates of Faulkner County deserve that.
