ATLANTA — The top two candidates in the 6th Congressional District are already strategizing for a runoff.
After a late night Tuesday, Democrat Jon Ossoff grabbed 48 percent of the vote, while Republican Karen Handel got 20 percent.
Elections officials said a rare problem in Fulton County delayed the results.
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Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant questioned the top state elections official about the error.
"It didn't make me feel good. It's very disappointing and I'm sure Fulton County is disappointed as well," Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told Diamant.
Kemp confirmed Wednesday that his office is now investigating the Election Day glitch that delayed Fulton County's ability to report results in the high-profile race
UPDATE: Fulton County found the card with the "rare error" and is resuming the count. ------------------ BREAKING: Data error in Fulton County holds up results in 6th District race http://2wsb.tv/2oIcfU1
Posted by WSB-TV on Tuesday, April 18, 2017
"There was not equipment failures," Kemp said.
The 90-minute delay made national headlines, which only amplified the impact and the pressure on Fulton’s elections director Richard Barron, who blamed it on a human error.
"To characterize this as a training issue is, you know, I would dispute that," Barron told Diamant.
Barron described the complicated scenario, a congressional and a state Senate race, plus municipal race, each called by different jurisdictions for the same day.
Barron said he believes a staffer uploaded a voting machine memory card from a precinct in Roswell to the wrong race-specific state database. A mistake that sparked a rare error message that took time to resolve.
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"We did have those memory cards segregated. They were color coded. How that one got in there, I don't know," Barron said.
Barron believes proper procedures were in place.
"I'm sure they'll learn from last night, and we're expecting them to do better in the future," Kemp told Diamant.
Either way, Fulton County Commission chairman John Eaves said he holds Barron accountable.
"We are disappointed of less than 100 percent perfect elections. So we're going to ask the tough questions, and I'm hopeful when the runoff occurs in June, we won't have any technical or human error problems," Eaves said.
BREAKING: 6th District race heads to runoff between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel, according to the Associated Press: http://2wsb.tv/2oIcfU1
Posted by WSB-TV on Tuesday, April 18, 2017
The glitch came on a day where many voters were frustrated at the polls, being turned away, not realizing they couldn’t vote in the race because they didn’t live in the district.
“They're saying DeKalb County. This is DeKalb County. What's the problem?" said voter Delano Roseman.
He was one of hundreds of DeKalb County residents who tried to cast ballots in the District 6 Congressional election, but had to be turned away because they live in District 4.
“It was generalized. DeKalb County, some of Cobb, some of Fulton. The people get here and find out it's only 'one little District 6,'" voter Herb Johnson said.
"Well, I think the voter has to take some responsibility for knowing what district they're in," Cherokee County election director Kim Stancil told Channel 2's Berndt Petersen.
Stancil said residents living in District 11 also tried to vote in the District 6 race. For the June runoff, she hopes the media will do more to set the record straight.
“And also the candidates can be more helpful in making it clear that it's only portions of those counties that vote in the runoff," Stancil said.
One of those candidates admits this election took on a life of its own.
"I think it speaks to the level of excitement and intensity by people here in the community to make their voices heard," Democratic 6th District candidate Jon Ossoff said.
But a recurring bottom line is, voters need to know which district they live in.
“When you have advertising that reaches outside the district, it's just going to happen. So, we try to make sure we have educated voters," Kemp said. “The people that went to vote yesterday that didn't live in the district, if they had simply checked the 'My Voter' page, they would have known whether they were eligible or not for this election."
Cox Media Group
