LEELANAU COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — The outcome of several county commission races in Leelanau changed Friday.

Unofficial results showed several Democrats leading to pick up seats last week.

That all changed when the Council of Canvassers noticed that some advance votes were not being added to the total online results that the public sees.

We’ve just gotten used to thinking that it’s going to be gospel that night, and just that these things happen.

According to Leelanau County Clerk Michelle Crocker, on election night, the ballots that were tabulated for the early voting site “were inadvertently not uploaded to the reports that were posted on the site.”

The Board of Canvassers, which consists of two Republicans and two Democrats, alerted Crocker that the online results did not match the paper reports.

“There’s nothing to hide here,” Crocker said. “As soon as it was brought to our attention, we went into ‘What do we need to do?’

Crocker described it as a punch in the gut. She said her staff works a lot of long hours this time of year. They don’t want this to lower people’s confidence in the electoral process.

“We’re very aware that we have a lot of people guessing, following us, and being followed is good,” Crocker said. “We also realize there’s praise and criticism. It just fits the job.”

Leelanau wasn’t the only county with multiple write-in ballots Friday. Kent, Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties also had extra ballots to update the results. Leelanau is in the spotlight as extra ballots changed the outcome of hotly contested races.

“It was difficult to make those calls,” Crocker said. “We knew how it could affect people who, in some cases, were celebrating for 48 hours.”

The commission race to represent District 3 between Democrat Lois Bahle and Republican Will Bunek was one of those races that flipped.

Bunek now leads by just 7 votes.

That was a blow.

Bahle told UpNorthLive that the single-digit margin is a good example of why it’s so important to vote.

Those results could change further with more ballots from military and overseas voters expected to arrive by Tuesday.

“Just take it one step at a time and go through the process,” Bahle said. “Being, you know, upset about it isn’t going to help you right now.”

Because her race is so close, Bahle said, when allowed to do so, she will request a recount.

Other races that were reversed were the District 2, District 5 and runoff commissioner results.

Unofficial results

In her office, Crocker highlighted the county’s PSA election results page.

It notes, in part, “…The County Board of Touts is still conducting research and the UNOFFICIAL results have been updated with the early voting site results. Please note that until certification all results are UNOFFICIAL and continuous updates will be made as needed until all election results are final and certified.”

Crocker explained that people want to know the outcome of the results immediately. Which is difficult when those results aren’t official until the Hawkers’ Council verifies them as well.

“Wait until every jurisdiction is researched,” Crocker asked. “I don’t know, but when you’re going to put things (online), that’s a possibility. That’s why that unofficial is so important.”