After first thinking she had lost Tuesday’s election for mayor of Mount Airy, Deborah Cochran later learned that she in fact had won after an error in vote tabulations was discovered.

Because of totals being transmitted incorrectly to the Surry County Board of Elections in Dobson, votes originally assigned to Cochran’s opponent — Teresa Lewis — should have been credited to Cochran, an official said.

The result was a victory for Cochran by an unofficial total of 1,018 to 897.

Earlier Tuesday evening, Lewis appeared to be the winner after all city precinct totals were in, but around 10 p.m., Hugh Campbell — the chairman of the Board of Elections — notified local media personnel that the mistake had been made.

“It appears that it was just a human error,” Campbell said of the tabulation problem. He explained that vote totals for two of the five voting locations in the city were wrongly reported.

Affected were the Mount Airy No. 1 precinct, where votes were cast at the Municipal Building on South Main Street, and Mount Airy No. 2, for which the polling location was L.H. Jones Resource Center on Jones School Road.

Campbell said vote totals for those precincts were to be sent electronically to Dobson via a modem, which is a device or program that enables a computer to transmit data over a telephone line.

However, the modem system did not function Tuesday, meaning that the results for those precincts had to be called in manually, which led to votes being totaled for Lewis that should have been counted for Cochran instead. The error was discovered later in the evening when the elections staff double-checked the results, which originally had Lewis winning by 169 votes.

Campbell said the same system had worked fine during a mayoral primary on Oct. 6 and appeared to be functional in preparation for Tuesday’s election as well. “So it wasn’t like the Board of Elections dropped the ball,” he said. “It just didn’t work tonight.

“We had all the tabulations in place — it just didn’t perform,” Campbell added of the system.

“The Board of Elections and the staff absolutely regret that this error occurred,” Campbell stressed. He said that county elections officials now will review their procedures and policies as a result, to ensure a similar problem doesn’t occur again.

Cochran Reacts

Cochran, 47, now a member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, had gathered with about 300 supporters at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building on West Lebanon Street. Beforehand, she had described the event as a “thank-you party” for those who backed her candidacy.

As the night progressed, it appeared she had lost the election — only to be notified by Campbell that the error occurred.

“Well, it was unfortunate that mistake was made,” Cochran said later, admitting that she experienced a range of emotion Tuesday night.

Cochran said she earlier had come to grips with the idea that the election had been lost, and accepted her apparent defeat. She explained that spending time with her brother, who recently was stricken with leukemia, “has made me put things into perspective.”

Then came the telephone call from Campbell about the mistake.

Cochran credited her eventual victory to a grassroots effort — “just people turning out to vote.” As an example, she said one elderly lady journeyed to the polls who hadn’t done so in more than 20 years just to take part in what had become a hotly contested mayor’s race.

The support received by Cochran Tuesday offset a tremendous financial advantage by Lewis, who had spent some $13,000 on her campaign.

Cochran said she believed she had connected with voters who are enduring difficult times. “I think my understanding of the economic realizations resonated with a lot of voters. That’s what I have been hearing on the campaign trail.” She also believes citizens appreciated her conservative philosophies.

Meanwhile, Lewis, 50, had gathered with her family members and supporters at Leon’s Burger Express in downtown Mount Airy for an apparent victory celebration, where a thunderous roar erupted when word initially came that she had won.

Among a crowd of well-wishers, the candidate had offered remarks to a reporter concerning her victory, and supporters gradually left the restaurant happy about the outcome.

Lewis later was notified by Campbell about the problem with the vote totals, and could not be reached for comment afterward.

Cawley, Yokeley win

unopposed

Two other candidates also were on Tuesday’s ballot for the municipal election in Mount Airy, but were unopposed.

Jon Cawley, incumbent commissioner for a North Ward seat, received 1,217 votes, and Steve Yokeley drew 1,228 in being elected to the South Ward seat being vacated by David Beal.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.