Recount ‘raises integrity’ of election’s outcomes

Douglas County commissioners certified Tuesday’s election results Friday, but not before asking for a ballot recount.

Friday’s recount, done by machine, didn’t change the outcome of the city, school board or school bond issue votes. But it added another chapter in the problem-plagued election.

“It was very frustrating,” said Scott Morgan, who lost his bid for re-election to the Lawrence school board. “I think it was very frustrating for everyone involved and for the community.”

County commissioners, meeting Friday morning as the Board of Canvassers, directed County Clerk Patty Jaimes to recount the ballots cast in Tuesday’s election. Chairman Bob Johnson said the recount was needed to “raise the integrity of the outcome.”

The counting problems began Tuesday night, when results were delayed by two hours because an election worker installed the primary election software — known as “chips” — in the vote-counting machines instead of the general election chips.

Wednesday morning, Jaimes’ office realized that 7,002 ballots had been counted twice. The mistake happened, Jaimes said, when Jo Dalquest, deputy county clerk, mistakenly entered computer files of previously tallied results from 23 precincts and advance voting into a category reserved for damaged or mismarked ballots.

Discovery of the second error changed unofficial results announced Tuesday night in the Lawrence City Commission election, giving David Schauner the third and final seat instead of Lynn Goodell.

The recount, which included provisional ballots, didn’t change any of the election winners, though it did change the final numbers slightly. Schauner defeated Goodell by 144 votes instead of 172, and Cindy Yulich won the fourth and final school board seat by 69 votes, not 68, over Morgan.

County commissioners met again Friday afternoon to canvass the votes precinct by precinct and certify the results.

Douglas County personnel, from left, Deputy County Clerk Jo Dalquest, County Clerk Patty Jaimes and Regina Stultz recount the ballots from Tuesday's election. County commissioners asked for the recount Friday afternoon to increase confidence in the accuracy of the election outcome, Chairman Bob Johnson said.

Despite the loss, Morgan said he was pleased with Friday’s process.

“I think they did the right thing, to increase the integrity of the election and confidence with the numbers,” he said.

Stan Ellsworth, treasurer for Schauner’s campaign, agreed.

“They tried to make it as open as possible, as accommodating as possible,” he said. “They went out of their way to make it fair.”

Jaimes said she didn’t mind doing the recount.

“This pretty much settles it,” she said. “I appreciate and understand why people have felt uncomfortable.”

The deadline to request a hand recount is noon Monday, she said, but she didn’t expect that to happen.

Johnson said he felt comfortable with the final totals. He said he didn’t expect the commission to change policies or further investigate what went wrong in this election.

“The best thing for us was to put it behind us,” he said. “People should have a high confidence level with the balloting process. When we make mistakes, we try to correct them as quickly and as openly as we can.”

Here are the final vote tallies certified Friday by the Douglas County Board of Canvassers. The results include Friday’s recount numbers and provisional ballots.Lawrence City CommissionMike Rundle — 8,659Dennis “Boog” Highberger — 7,582David Schauner — 7,043Lynn Goodell — 6,899Lee Gerhard — 6,022Greg DiVilbiss — 5,356Lawrence school boardLeonard Ortiz — 8,180Sue Morgan — 7,363Rich Minder — 6,960Cindy Yulich — 6,626Scott Morgan — 6,557Cille King — 5,948Mary Loveland — 5,522Michael Pomes — 5,001School bond issueNo — 8,712Yes — 6,940