SANDPOINT — Bonner County elections officials tallied up a batch of absentee ballots Friday that were inadvertently overlooked during the general election.

Nearly 400 of the absentee ballots were discovered last week in a filing cabinet in a secure vault in the Bonner County Administration Building after a discrepancy was noted between the number of absentee ballots distributed versus the number of ballots received, according to Clerk Michael Rosedale, who notified the public of the overlooked ballots.

None of the previously unaccounted for absentee ballots managed to alter the outcome of the 21 races, 16 of which were contested. The additional ballots also did not affect the outcome of ballot questions regarding horse racing, Medicaid expansion or a Bayview Water & Sewer ballot measure, according to the latest results published on the county’s website (bonnercountyid.gov).

Friday’s count added 211 votes for Republican Jim Woodward and 134 votes for Democrat Vera Gadman, who were competing for the District 1 state senator seat. Woodward’s final count in the race was 11,560 votes compared to Gadman’s 4,494 votes.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Heather Scott picked up an additional 165 votes and her Democratic challenger, Ellen Weissman, gathered another 182 votes. Scott ultimately finished the race with 9,764 votes in Bonner County and Weissman finished with 6,308 votes.

Incumbent Republican House B Rep. Sage Dixon and Democrat Stephen Howlett gathered an additional 176 votes and 171 votes, respectively. Dixon won re-election with 10,274 votes, while Howlett finished the race with 5,764 votes.

In the contest for the District 1 seat on the Bonner County board of commissioners, Republican Steve Bradshaw collected an additional 181 votes, while Steven Johnson picked up another 204 votes. Bradshaw won the contest 11,544-7,029, according to the updated results.

In the District 3 commission race, incumbent Republican Dan McDonald saw an additional 180 votes come his way and Democratic challenger Steve Lockwood was awarded an additional 209 votes. McDonald defeated Lockwood 10,990-7,651, according to the updated tally.

Republican Assessor-elect Donna Gow collected an additional 247 votes, bringing the total number of votes for her to 13,418. Independent Wendel Bergman picked up an additional 94 votes, but it was not enough to alter the outcome of the race. Bergman finished the contest with 3,805 votes.

Locked and sealed boxes of uncounted ballots were brought into the admin building’s first-floor conference room on Friday morning, where there were unsealed by deputy clerks Dan Shea, Clorissa Koster, Lisa Zurhorst, Nancy Twineham, Randi Flaherty, Cindy Brannon and Nichole Janes, Rosedale said. The ballots were then digitally scanned by Deputy Chief T.J. Eigler and Rosedale. Those efforts were assisted by Stuart Eigler, a deputized volunteer.

The resolution board, which resolved issues involving over-votes and un-scannable ballots, was comprised of Sylvia Humes and Sandra Rutherford. Deputy Clerk Charlie Wurm and Stuart Eigler supervised the storage of the scanned batch, which were sealed inside ballot boxes and transported to a locked storage room as required by Idaho’s election laws.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.