Fayette County vote totals included ballots without postmarks

In another twist to the story of the November 6th election, it has been disclosed that the Fayette County Auditor's Office has counted ballots without postmarks that arrived in their office after Election Day.

Fayette County Auditor Lori Moellers was conducting a vote canvas Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.  However, Iowa Deputy Commissioner of Elections Ken Kline and Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines confirmed the report on Tuesday.

Kline says the votes were counted by an auditing committee without Moellers' knowledge.  By the time the mistake was caught, the results had already been sent to Des Moines.

Kline says state law allows votes to be added after Election Day, but does not allow vote totals to be reduced. 

The news led some members of the public to ask on Tuesday that Winneshiek County also count the non-postmarked ballots, but supervisors said there was no permitted way to include those ballots.