Google searches omitted key US presidential candidates (update: bug)

Google has been a rich, impartial resource for US election info so far, but it's apparently not perfect. NBC notes that certain searches for would-be Presidents (such as "presidential candidates" or "US president candidates") weren't turning up major candidates in the list of active campaigns, including Republican nominee Donald Trump and Libertarian pick Gary Johnson. Moreover, they still included Bernie Sanders -- odd when his party has nominated Hillary Clinton.

We've asked Google for its take on what happened, and we'll let you know if it has a comment. As it stands, the issue might be resolved by the time you read this, as the cards disappeared entirely during the writing of this article. However, it's doubtful that there's a sinister conspiracy here. Regular search results still mention the missing candidates, and Google has historically shown results for other hopefuls. Most likely, this is an error -- albeit one that's bound to raise eyebrows.

Update: Sure enough, a Google spokesperson tells us that this was the result of a "technical bug." Its search code was only highlighting candidates embroiled in an active primary election. Since Trump and Johnson had already sewn up their candidacies, they were mistakenly excluded from the results. It's still odd that Sanders is included (just because the DNC is ongoing doesn't mean his campaign is active), but things are effectively back to normal. You can read the full statement below.