El Paso County clerk: Secretary of State CSV error changed public files but not certified results, urges fixes

Steve Schleicher, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, told the Fountain City Council on Dec. 9 that a vendor coding error in the Secretary of State’s election-night reporting system caused inaccurate numbers in the downloadable CSV file published on the state website, but did not change any certified results.

“My office identified the discrepancy early, worked directly with the Secretary of State to correct them,” Schleicher said, adding: “No votes were counted incorrectly. No ballots were added or removed. No precinct totals were changed.” He explained the problem affected races that cross multiple precinct boundaries because the vendor’s aggregation logic combined precinct totals incorrectly in split-precinct situations.

Schleicher described steps taken after the Nov. 4 coordinated election: the Secretary of State retested affected races across four counties, updated CSV files were reloaded, and El Paso County staff validated the corrected files. He urged a mandatory pre-publication verification window and better communications so counties can confirm published files before they go live.

At the meeting Schleicher also said he has publicly asked for the resignation of the Secretary of State, saying repeated statewide reporting or administrative errors have left county clerks to answer voters’ questions. He offered a county-run property-fraud alert service as an unrelated public service announcement and supplied the county website (epcrecords.com) for residents who want the free program.

Council members did not take formal action on Schleicher’s remarks. The clerk’s account to the council stressed that county canvass and certification procedures, performed by bipartisan canvass judges, were not affected by the CSV reporting error.