MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Elections, along with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, is preparing for a possible recount of the Ohio 18th District Congressional Republican race.
“Our office won’t know until the end of the week, but we are planning for a possible recount,” said Dean Evans of the SOS office.
After the Knox County Board of Elections certified the 2010 primary elections results Monday morning, Kim Horn, director of the KCBOE, told board members Fred Dailey saw an increase of 23 votes after provisional and military votes were counted. Dailey garnered nearly 46 percent of the vote in Knox County, with 3,212.
Bob Gibbs’ final number jumped by eight, giving him 938 votes, or 13 percent of the vote.
Unofficially, Gibbs is ahead of Dailey by 138 votes in the 10-county district.
County boards of elections have until today to certify election results from the primary. A final report of those numbers is due to the SOS by June 4, Horn said.
A mandatory recount takes place when there is a margin of victory/defeat of 1/2 to 1 percent of the total vote in that election.
Once the SOS decides a recount is required, a directive will be sent to all of the counties involved explaining the procedure that needs to be followed.
The remaining county issues and candidate races were confirmed as previously reported. State and districtwide elections will be certified by the SOS after June 4.
“The official results resonate with the unofficial results. There were no outcome changes,” Horn said.
During its monthly meeting, the board addressed concerns of perceived impropriety during the primary in Wayne Township. Although no formal written complaints have been filed with the KCBOE or the SOS, a poll worker at Wayne Township was also a candidate on the township’s ballot.
After last-minute changes to worker assignments, and to help train a new presiding judge, Diane Randall was placed at the Wayne Township polling place to work on election day. Randall was on the ballot running against Jamie Bell to represent the township on the Knox County Republican Central Committee. Randall defeated Bell with more than 83 percent of the vote.
According to the SOS, the placement of Randall did not nullify her candidacy or the outcome of the election.
“That takes care of [the poll worker] but I think as far as the board, we need to re-emphasize the policy in the future that if there is any kind of conflict — a relative or a [candidate] — that we don’t seat them in that election,” said Bill Moody, chairman of the KCBOE. “I know this got out of hand at the very last minute and it was difficult to undo it. ... Common sense tells us she shouldn’t have been there, perception-wise. Diane, to her credit, did everything she possibly could that day to remove herself from being on the front lines. She was actually a presiding judge and she actually had Sandy Erick at that seat, so the first person people saw was Sandy.”
The KCBOE has been in contact with the SOS’s office since May 4 in order to clarify and try to correct the situation, if need be.
“I feel bad for Diane because she brought it to our attention, as she should have. We weren’t aware until the night before that she even had an opponent and we should have removed her,” Moody said.
Overall, the board was pleased with the election.
“It was a complicated election,” said board member Carol Sue Owens. “I feel our staff and poll workers did an outstanding job.”
With 28 percent of registered voters participating in the primary, Knox County figures were higher than the state average of 23 percent to 25 percent. More than 3,000 of the 11,381 votes were cast absentee.
In other news:
•The staff of the KCBOE will forgo the annual conference in order to prepare for the special East Knox school levy in August, deal with the possible recount, and handle vacations and a maternity leave. Early voting for the EK levy will start on June 29, Horn said.
•A Health and Human Services Grant for more than $300 helped pay for signs and cones to get polling locations compliant under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
