by Andi Atteberry, KUAM NewsThursday, November 11, 2004
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The island discovered another twist in Recount 2004 news, after the Guam Election Commission stumbled onto 20 uncounted absentee ballots today during its ongoing recount process. The newfound ballots were cast in Precinct 10a in Yona.GEC executive director Gerry Taitano says the numbers just didn't add up, explaining that when the GEC staff took a look at the Voter Signature Roster from November 2, there were 678 names on the list, however the total number of votes cast was 658 for that precinct. Taitano says the 20-vote discrepancy led them to realize that an equal number of absentee ballots were missing.He says the missing piece of the puzzle was found lying in a supply box. When KUAM News asked how something like this could have happened, Taitano said it appeared that the procedures were not followed at the precinct level. "The procedure was to receive the absentee ballots, take a look at the signature roster, and go ahead and verify these voters voted absentee," he said. "They were then to abstract the ballot from the carrier envelope take the ballot envelope and put it into the ballot box. It appears that instead of putting it into the ballot box they were put in the supply box."The GEC's Board of Directors voted to open those ballots this evening and enter them into the counting process.