A data-entry error that originated in Montgomery County caused the State Board of Elections to inaccurately report that Leonard Session won the District D seat on the Montgomery County School Board.

Incumbent Jamie Bond is the actual winner.
 
Someone in the local office entered 2,219 votes cast for Session in the D-2 precinct, when he only received 221 votes, and that error was sent on to the state, Registrar Randy Wertz said.

The final tally in the race was Bond’s 2,270 votes to Session’s 1,115, according to unofficial results, Wertz said.

That is the only error Wertz has found, but state election officials will be canvassing all results to ensure accuracy during the next two days. Live updates to the state board’s results will be posted when errors are uncovered, said James Alcorn, deputy secretary at the board of elections.

The error had not been corrected as of 1:30 p.m.

The Montgomery County registrar’s office didn’t get local election results into the State Board of Elections’ system until almost midnight Tuesday, leaving some residents questioning who won races.

Wertz said a formula error with the spreadsheet his office used to tabulate results caused the delay. 

The county develops its own spreadsheets, enters the vote totals for each race, then enters that data into the state’s system, he said.

He said he never sends any data to the state until election officials are “comfortable” their numbers are correct.

Once all ballots were counted and entered onto the spreadsheet Tuesday night, “it became quite apparent that the formula was not correct,” Wertz said.

The formulas used were showing a much larger turnout than possible for town races, he said.

“It took us a long time trying to correct things,” he said. “I’d much rather be right whenever we submit” to the state.