Butler County Board of Elections workers count ballots in a conference room at the Butler County Government Center in Butler in July. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

One discrepancy has been found in 2020 election ballots from two of the three precincts selected for the county’s review of vote-counting procedures, and the review could come to an end without reviewing ballots from the third precinct.

Since the review began July 27, the recount of ballots from the Butler City 4-1 precinct has been completed and the review of the Donegal Township precinct is expected to be completed Thursday.

So far, only one discrepancy has been found. On one Donegal Township ballot, a voter didn’t properly fill in one circle to vote for a candidate, said county solicitor Wil White, who is serving as the county’s interim director of elections and overseeing the review.

All votes on each ballot are reviewed and counted by hand by county election bureau staff and a group of five to eight people, and then each ballot is scanned by the machine before the results are compared. The people working with bureau staff are election judges, inspectors and other people connected to elections. They are being paid $11 an hour for the review.

For several reasons, White said, he is recommending that county commissioners end the review without looking at the Middlesex Township ballots.

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