Technical troubles delay vote count in Bollinger County

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Problems with the ballot counter coupled with an unusually large voter turnout kept candidates in Bollinger County on pins and needles waiting for results Tuesday night.

With four precincts counted and 10 waiting at 9 p.m., County Clerk Diane Holzum announced to the people waiting in the hallway that, "this is going to take a long time."

Only the presiding commissioner race and that of the circuit clerk are contested races. At 9 p.m., Republican Travis Elfrink was leading Democrat challenger Kenny Trentham 663 to 368. Republican Jeneal Vandeven was ahead of her Democrat challenger Cindy Yount for circuit clerk 588 to 471.

Holzum and her staff worked frantically to pass ballots through the counter, but a problem with the code on the ballots caused some of the ballots to be rejected.

"It's not the counter, it's the ballots," she said.