Seven months after election conspiracy theories consumed the community here and drove the entire election staff to quit, Buckingham County struggled to report its results in Tuesday’s elections.
Local results were posted just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, making Buckingham the last county in the state to report unofficial tallies.
Unofficial election results are typically reported online within hours of polls closing, after which it takes days to canvass ballots and confirm official results. The missing results Tuesday night spurred concerns and frustration in the community, residents said in interviews.
“It’s unusual for a county not to report any results over 12 hours after the polls closed, and more unusual to not release any kind of statement relating to the delay,” said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research that helps support election officials.