DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announces the administrative recounts he requested for Des Moines and Warren counties were completed on Thursday and Iowa’s unofficial election results have been updated. Both counties experienced issues with reporting complete results on election night.
There were approximately 2,000 uncounted ballots in Warren County and approximately 800 in Des Moines County.
Two races were undecided before those counties reported their results. With all 99 counties reporting in, Democrat incumbent State Auditor Rob Sand defeated his Republican challenger by 2,614 votes in the closest statewide race. With results in Iowa House District 99 now complete after the recount in Des Moines County, Republican Matthew Rinker defeated incumbent Democrat State Rep. Dennis Cohoon by 467 votes.
“It is vital we ensure every ballot is counted and the process is open and transparent,” Pate said. “Important checks and balances are in place to protect the integrity of the vote and my thanks to these counties for taking the time to make sure we get it right. The integrity of Iowa’s elections is my top priority.”
Additionally, on Wednesday, November 9, the Secretary of State’s Office discovered that Linn County reported 600 more absentee ballots than had been received by their office at the time polls closed. This discrepancy was revealed during one of many reconciliation processes our office completes prior to the county and state canvasses.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s office contacted Linn County to alert them of the issue, and they went through the process of reuploading and reviewing all of their results from election night.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s office said that the Linn County Auditor’s Office did not follow the basic review process recommended in multiple trainings to county auditors. Failure to verify their totals against the absentee precinct board’s election night results before publishing was the cause of the issue. It has now been corrected.
The deadline for the State Board of Canvassers to convene is December 5 to certify Iowa’s election. Results remain unofficial until that time.
Unofficial election results are available on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website.
Update: Iowa Secretary of State’s office reports an error in Scott County’s tabulation of votes and is calling for an administrative recount.
