Even more uncounted Richland Co. ballots located

Thursday night WIS received pictures of voting machines that appear to have been unaccounted for in two different precincts in Richland County.

A WIS viewer took photos of the machines spotted at E.L. Wright Middle School in Northeast Columbia Thursday night.  And more voting machines were found at a precinct on Brandon Ave. near Hampton Park in Southeast Columbia.

Along with the machines were signs that said "vote here."

The photos show the machines have red tags on them.  On Election Night, Jody Barr reports a poll worker told him the red tags are to stay on the machines until they are unsealed for tabulation.

Marci Andino with the South Carolina Election Commission informed Barr via Twitter Thursday night that they "don't need voting machines to count votes."

After reports surfaced claiming Richland County located 150 uncounted ballots in two bags inside a closet, yet another set of ballots has been located.

This time, officials say 43 more ballots were located in a white bag, and another one was found somewhere else in the building.

County Election Commission attorney Steve Hamm said workers found two bags of ballots in a sealed room not long after finishing their count Wednesday night.

Those ballots were in a bag sealed by the State Law Enforcement Division, which kept control of the votes for several days while a judge determined what to do about the counting.

The Richland County Election Commission met Thursday afternoon to count the ballots. Officials said the newly discovered ballots did not change the outcome of state House district 75, the penny sales tax question, or other key contests.

Richland County reported five-hour waits to vote Nov. 6 amid broken machines and questions whether the county held back some voting devices.

Copyright 2012 WIS. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.