CLAY CENTER ? Problems with a voting machine apparently cost a county commission candidate an election he should have won by a 3-to-1 margin.

Jerry Mayo, who narrowly lost to challenger Roy Jennings, filed a written objection to the election results Friday afternoon. Had Mayo missed the deadline of midnight Friday for filing the objection, the count would have become official.

But, as a result of the objection, officials say an “objection board” will be convened Monday and the ballots counted by hand.

After the election, county officials reported Jennings had edged Mayo out of the Republican nomination for the 2nd Commission District by about 20 votes.

But officials said Friday morning that all votes cast for Jennings in the 2nd Ward, which is part of Clay Center, were recorded by the machine as being for Mayo. And the machine counted all votes cast for Mayo as Jennings votes.

County Clerk Mary Brown said ballots in the townships all contained Roy Jennings’ name on the top line. In the 2nd Ward, Jennings’ name was shifted, or “rotated,” to the bottom line to give both candidates an equal chance to be listed on the top line.

But the vote-counting machine was apparently programmed to recognize the top line on all ballots cast as belonging in the Jennings column.

Officials now believe Mayo may have beaten Jennings 465 to 153.

“I am thrilled (with the discovery),” Mayo said Friday afternoon. “God has a way of looking out for you.”

The potential error was discovered Thursday when Mayo was in the clerk’s office commenting that the voting machine may have been programmed wrong.

Officials ran a “test deck” through the vote-counting machine and discovered it was counting Mayo votes as Jennings votes in the 2nd Ward.