It would be easy for residents of Mount Airy and Dobson to wonder about Tuesday’s election results, at least the mayoral races in those two municipalities.

In Mount Airy, there was the problem of incorrectly reporting the election results, so that Teresa Lewis was named the winner, only to have that declaration reversed some time later in the evening with Deborah Cochran emerging as the victor.

According to elections officials, results from most of the precincts in the city were transmitted to the county board of elections office electronically. The problems arose when two of those precincts could not submit electronically and called in the results. In their haste to get the results in early, poll workers transposed the candidates votes. Once the error was discovered and the proper numbers were tallied, Cochran was declared the new mayor.

It would be easy to criticize the poll workers and elections officials. However, it is important to remember the people working the polls are volunteers, and while the ideal is that a mistake like this should not happen, the reality is no one is perfect.

Going forward we would hope elections officials would slow down the process a bit, have the poll workers tabulate the totals, recheck not only their math but also double check that the votes are being tabulated for the appropriate candidates, and then, perhaps, drive the results to the elections office where a third check could be made.

Yes, this would delay the results being made public, but an hour or so delay is preferable to the confusion and incorrect reporting that occurred Tuesday night. Incorrectly reporting the results raises questions about the entire vote-counting process, and could undermine the new mayor’s ability to manage the city government effectively.

Assuming the final vote check confirms the results that were eventually reported Tuesday night, we hope all involved — city commissioners, city government, and Lewis and her campaign workers — will unify under Cochran’s leadership and put the election behind them. There are daunting challenges facing the city and the last thing needed is for the past to get in the way of seeking progress in the future.

As for the Dobson race, no one is questioning the manner in which the vote count was done, but it was an exceptionally close race with incumbent Ricky Draughn eking out 133-130 win over Kenneth Earnest (elections officials had reported Tuesday evening the count was 132-128).

Of course, such a slim margin calls for election officials to carefully review the votes to ensure all were counted correctly and the victory is, in fact, Draughn’s. After all of the vote confirmation is finished, we also call upon all involved — both campaigns, the Dobson candidates who won commission seats and those who lost — to unify in an effort to bring more jobs to the area and to continue working cooperatively with the other local governments on water, sewer and additional projects.

The election is behind us. All those who ran bring talent and experience the area’s residents need. We hope all those who ran, whether they won an office or not, will now work together toward building a better community.