Jeremy Plank and Scott Tweedy have been elected to the Wood River City Council, according to unofficial results of Tuesday's municpal elections.
But several hours after polls had closed and vote totals for Wood River's 13 precincts were posted online, the numbers did not comport with what Plank's campaign team had from its review of precint tallies.
His campaign had gathered precinct printouts, which do not include early voting numbers tabulated at the county, and though his team was missing one precinct's tally, the numbers for 12 precincts (504) exceeded what was posted for public viewing with all 13 precincts reporting (496) - which would have included early votes.
Technical difficulties were responsible for the discrepancy, according to Madison County Clerk Debra Ming-Mendoza, who oversees county elections.
"The votes are OK," Ming-Mendoza said Wednesday morning. "There were IT issues with the website."
She did not expect results that appeared on the county's website as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, and which remained unchanged Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., to alter the outcome of the six-way race for two seats on Wood River City Council.
Plank, who ran on a platform of government transparency thanked voters for electing him.
"I am eager to see the correct and final vote tallies in my election, and for races across Madison County," he said in a statement. "Elections must be completely transparent so all residents can have confidence our system is fair and accurate. I appreciate the faith voters have placed in me as we work to transform the City of Wood River."
Before results were updated on the county's website, the top two vote-getters were Plank with 496 votes and Tweedy with 450. The remaining tally was: incumbent Michael Anderson, 380; Mary Roberts, 360; Melissa Bell-Yates, 196; and Mark St. Peters, 158. Anderson had been appointed last August to fill a vacancy created by the passing of council member Gale Ufert.
On Wednesday morning, after Plank's team had gathered the missing precinct printout (Precinct 10), his unoffical tally not including early votes tabulated at the county was 557; Tweedy, 526; Anderson, 428; Roberts, 396; Bell-Yates, 226 and St. Peters, 191.
Ming-Mendoza said that Democrat and Republican election judges on Wednesday morning were in the process of viewing tapes that are printed out at precincts as well as early votes.
"We will resolve the issue," she said. "It will be resolved today.
"Last night we saw the issue, we knew it," she said. "We were told to take it (Wood River results) down. Can you imagine the gossip? 'You've done something wrong. You're tring to hide it.'"
"I promise you" that voters can be confident in the results, she said.
She also said she was not aware of any other vote tally discrepancies among hundreds of races held in the county, and had no reason to believe there were.
She was also sure that if after election judges complete their review on Wednesday and if by chance that process flipped a race, "I'll be hearing about it from high heaven."