Columbia County Report: Election night reporting issues resolved

LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) - The Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Office results appeared to be delayed because of a database system issue through the late morning hours.

Election Website Reporting Delays

The supervisor of elections office website showed 27 out of 29 precincts reporting until after 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Supervisor of Elections Tomi Brown says it happened because of recent redistricting changes. She says two precincts were created where no voters live.

“132 and 444 have no registered voters in them so the database is set up where it will not recognize that there are votes in those precincts we have to go in manually and check a box in our database system that will update those two precincts,” Brown explained.

The supervisor says it’s important to have the precincts in case people do move to those areas so that they are able to get a ballot.

It was Brown’s first election with Columbia County and she says everything ran smoothly but she is disappointed in voter turnout. About 23 percent of registered voters turned out in Columbia County, which is the lowest turnout in the region.

RELATED: Voter turnout lower than expected in some North Central Florida counties

Brown attributes low turnout to the fact that 6,000 independent voters were not eligible to vote in the primary elections. They will be able to cast a ballot in the general election.

Columbia County Election Results

The chairman of the Columbia County Republican Party and a former state representative will be in a runoff election in November for the District 5 Columbia County School Board race because neither received a majority of the votes. Hunter Peeler received 41 percent, while Elizabeth Porter got 34 percent of the vote. Both candidates are well-known republicans, but the school board seat is a nonpartisan race.

RELATED: NCFL VOTES 2022 Live Blog: Alachua County results are in

In Columbia County Commission District 4, Everett Phillips won the race in an upset defeating incumbent Toby Witt.

In Lake City, Chevella Reed Young won the District 10 race with 74 percent of the vote. Ricky Jernigan won the District 14 race with 74 percent of the vote.

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