Results for Barnes, Ross Delayed

Candidates for the 15th Senatorial District, Democrat Mike Ross and Republican Clark Barnes, will have to continue playing the waiting game. Problems with a voting machine in one of the counties included in the district will delay the final tally until at least later today.

Election workers in Hampshire County began counting votes and posting results. But when the machine shut down before all ballots were tallied, even the early numbers had to be stricken from the record. According to a representative in the Hampshire County Clerk's office, a technician from Pennsylvania will arrive sometime this morning to work on the machine.

The worker said all the results that were reported prior to the machine going down had to be recounted. Hampshire County has more than 13,000 registered voters.

Barnes carried a strong lead with 20,059 votes to Ross' 16,230 votes in the other eight of the nine counties representing the 15th District.

"It's not over until it's over," Barnes said in a phone interview as results were leaning in his direction at approximately 11:30 p.m.

Ross won in Randolph, the home county of both candidates, with 5,582 votes. Barnes took in 5,130 votes.

In a phone interview at 11:30 p.m., Ross said the vote totals are hard to predict.

"We have not thrown in the towel yet," Ross said. "We will have to wait until the morning."

Barnes defeated Ross in seven counties that represent the 15th District. The results are:

Upshur County- Ross, 517 votes; Barnes, 477;

Pocahontas County -Ross, 1,584; Barnes, 1,924;

Berkeley County -Ross, 1,234; Barnes, 2,051;

Morgan County- Ross, 2,762; Barnes, 3,948;

Pendleton County -Ross, 1,319; Barnes, 1,351;

Hardy County-Ross, 2,353; Barnes, 2,844;

Grant County Ross, 879; Barnes, 2,334.