AUBURN (WSYR-TV) -- An error made in the frantic hours after polls closed in Cayuga County gave Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle many more votes than she actually got, according to one of the county's elections commissioners.
Democratic Commissioner Kate Lacey said that human error was to blame for adding a 2 in front of Buerkle's vote total from the town of Brutus Tuesday night.
The error was discovered Wednesday during the routine checking of vote totals.
Lacey said fixing that error and a few other small mistakes reduced Buerkle's vote total by more than 1,200, while increasing Maffei's total by by more than 700. Green Party candidate Ursula Rozum also added more than 120 votes after the math had been checked.
The changes cut Buerkle's margin of victory by 1,997 votes in the county and extended Maffei's strong lead in the four-county district. He leads, according to unofficial totals, by more than 12,500 votes.
Lacey said the county will begin counting absentee ballots next Tuesday, Nov. 13. There are at least 15,000 absentee ballots among the four counties.
