JULIAETTA, ID – The tight race for a Juliaetta City Council post ended up tied after the Latah County Auditor’s Office caught a tabulation mistake from the initial election results.

The unofficial election night results from November 4th showed that Richard Tackett appeared to have won the post by one vote over Amanda Fletcher. During the canvassing process to ensure the ballots were counted correctly elections department staff found that too many ballots were tabulated in that race. Officials determined that 8 absentee ballots were counted twice. The race was recounted and canvassed, and Tackett and Fletcher ended up tied with 72 votes apiece.

Latah County Auditor Julie Fry notes that the canvassing process worked correctly, allowing her staff to find the error. Fry also says her elections department will move to a separate process for counting absentee ballots to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen again.

There will be an official hand recount of the race. The time and place for that recount haven’t been determined yet. If the race is still tied, then there will be a coin flip to determine who wins the Juliaetta City Council post.