Voting went smoothly in Danville

The canvass of votes in Danville was completed and certified Wednesday with only slight differences in the vote totals, according to Danville Registrar Peggy Petty.

Petty said three provisional ballots were submitted at Danville precincts. These are paper ballots filled out by people who insist they are registered to vote, but their names do not appear on the rolls.

Those ballots are sealed, and the electoral board reviews the cases to determine if the votes will be accepted.

Petty said in one case, a man claimed he registered to vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles, but a check showed he had clearly chosen not to register.

“They didn’t even open his ballot,” Petty said.

Petty said one other voter had two names that could have been first or last names, and the electoral board discovered his name was simply entered incorrectly. Another voter had moved twice since the last election, and while she knew where to go to vote, she was listed in another precinct.

“There was no reason not to count their votes,” Petty said.

The final numbers have been filed with the State Board of Elections, reflecting the addition of those two votes, Petty said.

Petty said the problems might have been solved without involving the electoral board if the phone system had not gone done for part of the day Tuesday.

“The phones were down and they couldn’t call with Social Security numbers for us to check,” Petty said.

Other than the down time with the phones, the day went smoothly at the precincts, with no equipment malfunctions.

“Everything worked as it should — perfectly,” Petty said.