[CharlesWayneCT]

Actually, a lot of the “problems” we think we see with voting is simply the result of needing to know things “right away”, meaning we rush preliminary information out to get ahead of the curve, and then we go back and check all the numbers.

In this case, someone maintaining vote counts on an old personal computer simply forgot to include one city’s totals.

In another error, it looked like someone misread a “9” as a “7” on a handwritten sheet.

This is why “official” results are given much later — after they go through the painstaking process of double-checking everything.

[freedomwarrior998]

So the correct solution is to refuse to report unofficial numbers to the media. Final Count is the only count that the media (and everyone else) gets.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Yeah, I hear that...we are a breaking news society and our media has a zeal to be first with information and that leads to reporting even rumors in cases where there is a vacuum of fact.

That reminds me of the exit polling controversies, where the media is in such a manic rush for information on election day that they actually make up their own numbers to report.

Wall to wall news reporting and the need to fill dead space with something new to talk about causes a lot of these problems.

[Mygirlsmom]

This is why “official” results are given much later — after they go through the painstaking process of double-checking everything.

And typically, no one hears word one about such discrepancies, because elections are decided by a large enough margin that a few hundred votes here or there makes no difference.