Around 4,000 Votes for President Joe Biden Were Underreported by Virginia in 2020: Officials

Election authorities in Virginia's Prince William County have admitted that during the 2020 presidential election, around 4,000 votes were misreported in former president Donald Trump's favor, resulting in a shorting in President Joe Biden's votes. Biden was shorted 1,648 votes while Trump was wrongly accorded 2,327 more votes, according to a statement from the county's Office of Elections, per The Hill. The acknowledgment from the Prince William County Office of Elections comes only a week after prosecutors from the Virginia Attorney General's office dropped charges against Michelle White, the county's former registrar.

In a statement, the county's current registrar, Eric Olsen, emphasized that the errors did not affect the outcome of any race and “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,” per Law & Crime. Counts were also inaccurate in Senate and House contests but by lesser margins.

Biden won Virginia by roughly 500,000 votes against then-President Trump in the 2020 election, so the discrepancies were inconsequential and did not meet the 1% criteria to trigger a recount, according to Olsen. “The reporting errors were presumably a consequence of the results tapes not being programmed to a format that was compatible with state reporting requirements. Attempts to correct this issue appear to have created errors,” Olsen emphasized. 

White, the former registrar and chief of elections for Prince William County, was cleared of charges of wilful neglect only last week by Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in the state. In addition to the misdemeanor allegation, White was charged with criminal corruption in 2022 and was also accused of lying. Roughly a year has passed since her resignation.

In December 2023, Miyares dismissed the felony charges against White when the prosecution pointed out that a crucial witness had chosen to change their testimony. White was scheduled to go on trial before the charges were withdrawn. According to the Washington Post, the specifics of White's charges had been hazy in public.

Zachary Stafford, White's attorney, told NBC that charges she was responsible for faulty counting in Prince William County were debunked by court remarks from a government witness. Stafford stated that White was being made into a 'scapegoat.' Stafford explained in a written statement to NBC, “The board certified the incorrect results and they, and the attorney general’s office, attempted to assign blame to Ms. White for their mistakes.”

Additionally, Olsen told NBC that the majority of mistakes happened in 'split precincts,' or places where a precinct is divided into two congressional districts. In his statement, Olsen emphasized that Virginians ought to have confidence in the state's voting systems and highlighted the steps taken to address the process to make it better for the next elections.

“Mistakes are unfortunate but require diligence and innovation to correct. They do not reflect a purposeful attempt to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and the investigation into this matter ended with that conclusion," he stated.