1996 Data on Atlas for Tyler County, West Virginia cannot not be an error

[muon2]

The data for Pres is definitely inconsistent with the other statewide contested race totals. However, those are the official totals certified by the state, so the error is not with the Atlas. The error appears to be with WV.

[muon2]

The data for Pres is definitely inconsistent with the other statewide contested race totals. However, those are the official totals certified by the state, so the error is not with the Atlas. The error appears to be with WV.

What do you think happens if the WV secretary of state agrees?
Will Mac Warner instigate a recount of the votes?
Are the ballots still archived anywhere?

I am hoping somehow that the County Clerk office has the correct totals on hand and that the incorrect totals were generated by a transcription error from the state myself I guess.

That does happen sometimes. The SoS relies on the counties to provide results, and the data can get misread going from the county to the state. But it's also possible that they certified a report that had errors. If so, the erroneous report represents the official totals barring a court challenge to change it. At this point I can't imagine a court that would allow such a challenge since the changing the results has no effect on anything material to the state.

In any case, if there is an error they would probably tell anyone studying the results to use a footnote to explain the discrepancy rather than go through a court proceeding.

[muon2]

Adjusting 1000 to the Rs would make the results most consistent and dropping a digit is an easy transcription error. The question is whether the county dropped it before they certified it or when they sent it to the state.

[muon2]

If it was a halving of the Pub total then that would add 734 to the total cast making it 3514. If 1000 is added then 3780 would have been cast. There were 3828 votes cast for Gov, so 3780 is consistent with that. It would be unusual for Pres to be in the same range as the downballot races, as it would if only 3514 were cast.

[muon2]

If it was a halving of the Pub total then that would add 734 to the total cast making it 3514. If 1000 is added then 3780 would have been cast. There were 3828 votes cast for Gov, so 3780 is consistent with that. It would be unusual for Pres to be in the same range as the downballot races, as it would if only 3514 were cast.

It might not make a difference here, but I also just found information while further looking into this issue that the 1996 Republican nominee for West Virginia Governor was from Tyler County. Not sure what the most reasonable thing to expect based on that would be.

I was puzzled that the Govs race would get more votes than Pres, but that would explain a small bump for Gov in Tyler. I still would expect a few percent higher total for Pres than any other downballot race.