A Virginia county's 2020 election issues benefited Trump
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Ballot irregularities in Prince William County during the 2020 presidential election were a result of a computer programming error — and benefited former President Donald Trump to the tune of more than 2,000 votes.
Why it matters: The county's former top election official was accused of altering the results and indicted on felony corruption charges. Those charges have since been dismissed, Virginia Mercury reported.
- Even though this incident benefited their candidate, some Republicans have used it as evidence of fraud in the last presidential election.
Driving the news: Last week, Prince William election officials said the 2020 ballot irregularities were a result of roughly eight ballot-counting machines being misprogrammed, plus human error as workers attempted to correct the mistake, Prince William Times reported.
- "The reporting errors … were likely due to a lack of proper planning, a difficult election environment and human error," the current county registrar said in a statement.
Zoom in: The errors didn't affect the outcome of any race, nor did they benefit one political party. Among the county's findings:
- Donald Trump incorrectly received 2,327 extra votes.
- Sen. Mark Warner was shorted 1,589 votes (his Republican challenger was shorted 107).
- Rep. Rob Wittman was denied 293 votes he should've received.
The big picture: Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a 20-person "Election Integrity Unit" in September 2022, days after his office indicted Prince William's former registrar, Michele White.
- The unit was dedicated to investigating allegations of voter fraud across the state and followed a number of GOP officials nationwide who made election law a top focus.
- White alleged that her prosecution was politically motivated, per the Washington Post. To date, her case is the only criminal prosecution the unit has undertaken, the Washington Post reported.
- Miyares' office dropped the felony charges against White in December and a remaining misdemeanor charge of neglect of duty last week.
What's next: Early voting for Virginia's March 5, Super Tuesday 2024 presidential primary elections begins Friday.