After reviewing votes recorded in the Urbana South precinct on election day, the county Board of Elections has determined a hand recount is not necessary, Meredith Bodey, director of the board, said Tuesday.
On Monday, when the board certified election results, it was learned that the Nov. 7 unofficial results (declaring that Amy Shaloo Paul, Darrell Thomas and Tim Lacy had won seats on the Urbana school board) were incorrect. The official results showed that Lacy had lost his seat on the board to Jim Arter, a former board member.
Possible reasons for the change in figures were determined to be provisional and absentee ballots counted during Monday’s certification process, but also possibly to an error made on election day by an independent contractor who inadvertently downloaded votes from the Urbana South precinct three times.
Bodey said an independent contractor is provided on election days by Election Systems and Software, the Omaha, Nebraska, company that sold election equipment to the county. The county pays $1,575 a day to the company for this tech support. Bodey said this particular independent contractor was a college student from Omaha, but that over the years these temporary contractors have come from all over the country.
Bodey said Monday that the board on Tuesday would recount school board votes cast in the Urbana South precinct, but instead reviewed figures on the tape from the Urbana South precinct and determined they match figures certified by the board on Monday. She said this convinced her a hand recount is not necessary. She added that recounts are conducted if a concerned citizen pays for the procedure.
Lacy garnered more votes than Arter in the Urbana South precinct (87 to 67), but Arter acquired more votes than Lacy in other precincts.
Official votes for board candidates include Paul with 1,000 votes, Thomas with 913, Arter with 773 and Lacy with 739. These four were among nine candidates vying for three seats on the board.
Bodey said election results found at electionsonthe.net/OH/CHAMPAIGN/elecres.htm are correct.
Automatic recount for WL-S school board race
Although the Champaign County Board of Elections had information that the Logan County board would not certify election results until Nov. 27, Bodey said Tuesday she learned that those results had been certified Monday.
Because the accidental election day download of multiple votes also occurred in Champaign County’s Salem North and South precincts, part of the West Liberty-Salem school district, the Champaign County Board of Elections sent a corrected report of votes in those precincts to the Logan County Board of Elections.
Six candidates competed for three seats on the WL-S school board. Votes garnered by Tim Lamb and write-in candidate Julie Cole are within the one-half of one percent range, which means an automatic recount of votes must be conducted in both counties.
Bodey said the Logan board will recount votes at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 30 and the Champaign board will do its recount at 9 a.m. Nov. 30.
Certified results in the WL-S school board race show David Cline with 799 votes, Chuck Buck with 792 votes, Tim Lamb with 741 votes, Trey Richardson with 541 votes, Dixie Kopus with 546 votes and write-in candidate Julie Cole with 731 votes.
