A northern Virginia county admits it underreported President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election win over Donald Trump by approximately 4,000 votes, the first full accounting of irregularities that surfaced in 2022 as part of a criminal lawsuit.
The Prince William County Office of Elections admitted Thursday, a week after the Virginia Attorney General dismissed charges against Michele White, the county's former registrar. Counts were also inaccurate in Senate and House contests, albeit by smaller amounts.
Eric Olsen, the county's current registrar, said the mistakes "did not consistently favor one party or candidate but were likely due to a lack of proper planning, a difficult election environment, and human error."
The county undercounted Biden by 1,648 votes and overcounted Trump by 2,327 ballots in the presidential election. Biden won by 450,000 votes in Virginia and over 60,000 in Prince William County, making the 3,975-vote difference irrelevant.
Democrats Mark Warner and Republican Daniel Gade lost 1,589 and 107 votes, respectively, in the Senate election. Warner won statewide with almost 500,000 votes.
In the U.S. House contest, Republican Robert Wittman lost 293 votes. He won by almost 80,000.
The Thursday revelations were the first substantial reaction to the problems since White was charged with corruption, lying, and dereliction of duty in 2022. The allegations of misbehavior against White were not explained by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares' prosecutors, who withdrew the charges.
Only Thursday revealed which candidates benefited from the blunders. While the criminal case was pending, Olsen said Thursday he could not discuss the errors.