Schoon said she and her Democratic counterpart, Kathy Kozuszek, have been appointed by the Porter County Election Board and political party chairmen and chairwomen as watchers of the vote tabulation.

Schoon could not give a time as to when the count might be finished.

"We are being very thorough," Kozuszek said.

Porter County Republican Chairman Michael Simpson said his biggest concern at this point is that the bipartisan effort to count the votes is underway and goes smoothly. Only after that work is done should the emphasis shift to what went wrong with the local elections — and how to fix it.

The questions of why several voting places failed to open on time Tuesday, and why absentee and early voting ballots were not delivered timely to most polling places as required by law is already being asked by many officials on and off the ballot, as well as voters, who are unhappy with the problems and delays.

While Stankiewicz raised concern Wednesday morning that security had been breached overnight at the room where ballots were kept, other officials said that was not the case.