ROYALTON — It was a reversal of fortunes, Royalton-style.

Confusion reigned in the hotly-contested race for superintendent of highways after the polls closed Tuesday.

An error was made somewhere along the way, and it was reported that Carson Kelley beat incumbent Terry W. Nieman.

Nieman actually won 901-705.

Poll watchers discovered the mistake was made in District 6, the Terry’s Corners Fire Hall, but not before radio stations reported Kelley won.

It was inspector error, according to Scott Kiedrowski Niagara County Republican Commissioner.

Mistake pinpointed

Scott Wymczak, secretary of the town Republican Committee, pinpointed the mistake happened in District 6 after he served as a poll-watcher in Wolcottsville. Nieman and Kelley had poll watchers in each of the six districts.

“We were surprised when we heard news report that Terry lost,” Wymczak said.

“I was kookin’,” said Donna Nieman, the superintendent’s wife and chairman of the Republican Committee. “We thought we won, and didn’t win. Imagine when we saw that on the computer!... I don’t know how that happened. Inspectors call in numbers, and the little boxes are hard to read. There can be human error.”

GOP poll-watcher Jennifer Bieber and her daughter were at Terry’s Corners and correctly reported 139 votes for Nieman and 133 for Kelley. During a huddle at the Nieman home, Wymczak went on the computer and found that the original Board of Elections report gave Nieman only 18 votes.

“Where the snafu happened, I’m not sure,” Wymczak said.

Donna Nieman tried to called the Board of Elections and left messages, but by that time the office had closed. Kiedrowski learned of the mistake, went back to the office, opened suitcases and made the correction.

“You’ve got to commend Board of Elections for their fast results. It didn’t take five minutes to make the correction,” Wymczak said. “The computer read-off slip was right. It was a human error.”

Ballot scanners

The towns of Royalton and Hartland experimented with ballot scanners for the first time, but the error “had nothing to do with the devices,” Kiedrowski said.

When the polls close, the numbers are phoned in or faxed to the Board of Elections. It’s unusual, but sometimes mistakes are made when inspectors are hurried, according to Kiedrowski. “Nothing that comes in election night is official,” Kiedrowski said.

Nieman won on the Republican line. Kelley had the endorsement of the Democrat, Independence, Conservative and Working Families lines.

Poll-watcher permits

Candidates apply to the Board of Elections for poll-watcher permits, and certificates are handed out. The watchers are given a list of people who have voted and can call potential supporters who have not voted and urge them to come to the polling place.

When the polls are closed and the doors are locked, the watcher is allowed to wait for the final results and call them in to the candidates’ headquarters.

Until absentee ballots are counted and final inspections are complete, the results are not official. That may take three weeks.

Voters were not totally comfortable with the new voting machines.

“In one sense it’s a littler easier, but it’s not as confidential, especially if they (inspectors) help,” Donna Nieman said, “You get little more privacy with other machine.”

The only district Nieman lost was District 4, Wolcottsville.

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, ext. 6246.