Hayes Explains Election Count Snafu

In a press release emailed moments ago, County Clerk Cliff Hayes explained the counting snafu that prevented final Kootenai County results to be posted online until shortly before 7 Wednesday morning:

Around 1:30 a.m. elections management saw online results were not adjusting correctly as each incremental posting of the machine counts was uploaded.  They   began investigating the problem and trying different input methods.  When a solution hadn’t been found after more than two hours of attempts, the results that had been posted were taken down, and a notice saying “Due to technical difficulties we are unable to post Election results now.  As soon as we have accurate numbers they will be posted here” put up about 4:30 a.m.  In addition, notification was made to the Idaho Secretary of State’s office and the media.  The notice was up until about 6:30 a.m. when the results reporting problem was identified and a solution tested out accurately.

“Some people think stopping the online results posting was the wrong thing to do”, Hayes said.  “I always believe that accuracy is more important than speed.” Full news release here.

Thoughts?