Audit shows problems with 2010 Horry County election

Audits of the 2010 election in South Carolina show a number of issues that plagued Horry County, including incomplete data and more than 100 votes that were not included in the certified count.

“Horry County had perhaps more serious problems than any other county in the state, a wider variety of serious problems,” said Dr. Duncan Buell, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina.

The report includes findings from the S.C. League of Women Voter’s, and from an audit conducted by the S.C. State Elections Commission. Buell was the leading technical consultant of the LWVSC’s audit committee.

The report examines election results for possible election irregularities, complications or instances of fraud.

“We have not seen evidence of fraud anywhere in the state,” Buell said.

The report, dated Sept. 30, stated there were 48 Horry County precincts missing some data from what is referred to as a 155 file that LWVSC had obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Another three precincts were missing data completely from that same file.

“That’s huge,” Buell said.

He explained the 155 file registers all individual votes.

Another discovery was a terminal at the Racepath 1 precinct had 114 uncounted votes.

“They were not part of the certified count,” Buell said. He added that two different hand-held devices were used to open and close the machine, while state procedure is a terminal is to be opened and closed with just one device.

In most cases where votes are uncounted, Buell said it’s generally because a machine is opened and closed with two different devices.

This wasn’t the only case. Another Horry County precinct had 69 uncounted votes, according to the report.

Confusion comes into play when comparing the data the LWVSC received versus what the SEC had.

The report states there were 59,079 “vote images” in the LWVSC’s 155 file. The 152 file, which logs events such as a vote being cast, had the same number.

In looking at the SEC’s 155 file, there were 53,483 vote images. The 152 file had 66,651 vote cast events, according to the report.

As for the number of precincts missing data from the 155 file, the SEC’s number dropped to 25, compared to the 51 in the LWVSC file.

Dean Huggins, administrative assistant with Horry County Elections, said flash, or memory, cards were behind some of the data problems.

“We just had several flash cards that just didn’t record the information on the vote cards,” she said.

Huggins added the missing audit data is what led to the uncounted 183 votes, and it was a case of the flash cards not recording that data.

“It wasn’t that the votes were gone, or the votes weren’t certified,” she said.

Precincts and terminals where audit data was missing from, county officials were able to upload it using new flash cards, Huggins said.

Buell said he’d like to come down and talk to county officials to see what problems they may have had with the equipment, which led to inconsistent voting data.

He recognizes that it’s a complicated system being used on days of extreme stress by volunteer workers who may not be up to speed on proper procedures.

“We have not seen evidence of fraud anywhere in the state,” Buell said.

Huggins said software from the SEC will be available for future elections, thereby taking care of the flash card issue.

“Nobody trusts a computer 100 percent of the time to be 100 percent correct,” Buell said.