By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
May 8, 2026
Vigo County Circuit Court Clerk LeAnna Moore’s office is blaming human error for underreporting the vote totals on primary election night, according to the Terre Haute Tribune-Star.
The Tribune-Star published a story to its website on Friday, reporting the election night totals were off by nearly 2,000 votes.
In a statement to the Tribune-Star on Friday, the clerk’s office said all the ballots were scanned, verified and accounted for on election day and then, as part of protocol, the office conducted an internal audit within the 10-day window allowed by state law to ensure the vote totals are accurate.
“During this process, it was discovered that not all of the information that had been accounted for on Election Day was reflected in the unofficial report released to the public on election night,” the clerk’s office said in a statement. “This was determined to be due to human error.”
The newspaper reported a jump of 1,958 in the unofficial vote total from 14,792 reported on election night to the current tally of 16,750.
In a Friday afternoon interview with the Tribune-Star, Chief Deputy Clerk Elizabeth Stiverson said all the votes were counted on primary day.
“Where the human error took place was in the results report,” Stiverson told the newspaper. “The report didn’t accurately show everything that we counted. The mistake was with the reporting, not with the counting itself; the counting was done correctly and we have a record of that.”
One race has been identified as being impacted by the miscount, according to the Tribune-Star. Todd Nation, a Terre Haute city councilor, told the newspaper that with the additional ballots, he won his race for Democratic precinct committee chair for precinct 2C. On election night, Nation and his opponent, Darrell Shouse, were tied at 15-15, but once all the votes were counted, Nation won by 19 to 17, the newspaper reported.
Tammy Boland, a Democrat and Terre Haute city councilor, pointed out to the Tribune-Star that precinct committee positions that were on the ballot are important. These individuals organize the caucus to elect a new public official whenever someone steps down before the end of his or her term, she told the newspaper.
“For whatever the reason is, I’m disappointed,” Boland said in her statement. “I think that given the current state of politics, there is a distrust there anyway. I think we have to do everything we can to gain that trust back with the voters.”
Stiverson told the Tribune-Star the outcomes could change for “a couple” of Democratic state convention delegate races. Also, the Fayette Township Board race winners could shift as well, she said.
The reporting glitch does not appear to have upended the results from the Republican primary for Indiana Senate District 38. Incumbent Sen. Greg Goode, who voted against midcycle redistricting, faced challengers Brenda Wilson, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, and Alexandra Wilson, who won a protracted battle to remove her from the ballot.
According to the Vigo County clerk’s election website, Goode captured 4,400 votes to Brenda Wilson’s 3,013 and Alexandra Wilson’s 935.
The clerk’s office said the hiccup in reporting the vote totals demonstrated the safeguards built into the election system are functioning as intended, according to the newspaper.
“Election integrity and transparency are always at the forefront of our office,” the clerk’s office said in its statement. “We understand that seeing unofficial results change can be concerning, and we want to assure the public that the canvass and audit process exist specifically to identify and correct any discrepancies prior to certification of the election.”
Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun, a Democrat, told the Tribune-Star he would like more answers for why the ballots were not initially counted and some assurances this will not happen again.
“I hope that systems and processes are evaluated and changed to ensure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again,” Sakbun said in a statement to the newspaper. “I’m confident no malicious intent is involved in this situation. But we should all acknowledge that this situation requires some changes to regain the trust of our community.”
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org
