Software error leads to several inaccurate results. New totals show Hanks beat Raymond in District 35.
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IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office declared the wrong winner in an eastern Idaho primary race Tuesday.
The error was due to a software glitch, that resulted in several incorrect numbers being made public.
It turns out candidate Karey Hanks actually beat incumbent Rep. Jerald Raymond in District 35 House Seat A. It was originally reported that Raymond won.
The glitch omitted numbers on one county in District 35, which covers portions of Butte, Clark, Jefferson and Fremont counties.
“What happened with this race, was the numbers we were displaying last night, we didn’t have Fremont County results correctly mapped to the results page that we show on our website, so the numbers we were showing last night were incomplete for that District 35 House race and for the District 35 Senate race,” Deputy Secretary of State Jason Hancock told EastIdahoNews.com.
The corrected numbers show Hanks received 4,870, or 50.76% of votes, and Raymond received 4,725, or 49.24% of votes. The corrected numbers were updated Wednesday morning on the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
Hancock said they’d been in touch with Raymond about the matter.
The glitch also impacted the race between incumbent Sen. Van Burtenshaw and challenger Jud Miller, but the outcome remained the same.
The other District 35 race between incumbent Rep. Rod Furniss and George A. Judd for House Seat B also reflected incomplete numbers, but it didn’t affect the outcome. Furniss took down Judd.
Hanks couldn’t be reached for comment.
For more 2020 primary election results, click here.