Voting machine error caused some votes in Monmouth County elections to be counted twice

A voting machine error in Monmouth County could change the results of a race from the November general election.

This system error caused six Monmouth County districts to have inaccurate vote tallies – some votes were counted twice. If there is a recount, it could change the results of the Ocean Township Board of Education election, which was very close.

According to Election Systems & Software - the county’s voting machine vendor – software was uninstalled and then reinstalled in July after issues with a slow performance in the internal network. The company says that due to human error during reinstallation, the step that ensures the system doesn’t double count was missed. This is what caused the machine to read votes twice.

“It's horrible. It's not just horrible for me, It's horrible for Jeff Weinstein too. We're both in the same position,” says Steve Clayton, of the Ocean Township Board of Education.

Clayton was up against Weinstein in the Ocean Township election. He was sworn in on Jan. 3.

In a statement Election Systems & Software said in part, “The integrity of elections are ultimately protected by a series of checks and balances, and we're grateful for the review that revealed this human error. ES&S pledges our support to work hand-in-hand with Monmouth County to ensure all necessary steps are taken to ensure election accuracy.”

Clayton says that for now, he is doing the job he was elected to do.

“I'm gratified that they acknowledged the problem, and it looks like now it's going towards a recount. It's something that desperately needs to be done in order to restore voter confidence when it's already at an all-time low,” Clayton says.

He says that he will continue to do his job. He says that he also wants to see some accountability for those involved in the error.