VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The first round of recounting ballots in Volusia County ended with staff discovering they had several hundred votes fewer than on Election Day.
Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis said after staff finished recounting ballots around midnight Tuesday, they found an undercount or discrepancy of 240 votes. The votes did not favor one party or the other, Lewis said.
She was on the verge of tears Tuesday, determined to make sure every vote is correct countywide.
"When we were comparing the totals from last night, when we finished that, to the first unofficial results, we noticed in the vote-by-mail and ballots and the early voting ballot counts that they were off," Lewis said.
Lewis said the error was with one or two ballot counting machines that jammed, which could have been caused by human error.
"When the jam goes through and we think that it has counted, it truly hasn't in some of those batches that were jammed," she said.
The undercounted votes were from vote-by-mail ballots and early voting.
Once staff learned the totals were off, they brought in the three machines and will be watching the process as they recount ballots.
"It's watching the screen to see where the jams are to make sure it's counted or not counted and then knowing what you need to do," Lewis said. "I don't want to rush through this. Slow and steady wins the race."