RE-CANVASSES SHOW NO CHANGES TO VOTE TOTALS IN KY. STATE REP. RACES
{FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 15, 2018) – Kentucky’s county boards of elections involved in conducting re-canvasses Thursday reported no changes to their respective county’s vote totals in six State Representative races and a Commonwealth’s Attorney race. The county boards’ re-canvass totals were reported to Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.
A re-canvass is a check of vote totals from each voting machine and absentee ballots.
Re-canvasses were conducted in the following races:
State Representative, District 13 (Daviess County)
State Representative, District 27 (Hardin and Meade Counties)
State Representative, District 81 (Madison County)
State Representative, District 88 (Fayette County)
State Representative, District 91 (Breathitt, Estill, Lee, Madison and Owsley Counties)
State Representative, District 96 (Carter and Lawrence Counties)
Commonwealth’s Attorney, 37th Judicial Circuit (Carter, Elliott and Morgan Counties)
The State Board of Elections will meet Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. ET to certify and make official the results of the General Election and issue certificates of election to winners.}
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Recanvassing in Lawrence County and Carter County started at 9:00am Thursday morning and essentially mimicked the counting process from election night. There were no changes as Democrat Kathy Hinkle kept her 5 vote lead over incumbent Jill York in the 96th district state representative race.
Lawrence Co. Attorney Mike Hogan said Ms. York asked him to research whether Hinkle’s husband, Lafe, who is Lawrence County Democrat Chairman, could sit in on the re-canvass Thursday and he has not found a statute that precludes him (Hinkle) from acting as a member of the Board of Elections and performing his duties.
The re-canvassing procedure is simple and depends on the vote counting system used by each county. Historically these rechecks become the final, official count and have not changed by much over the years.
Lawrence County Clerk Chris Jobe states, “Nothing in our county changed on this level and it will be up to the candidate to see where it goes next.”
But, The Lazer has learned that the Kentucky Republican Party has asked or will soon ask for a re-count of the six legislative races, including the 96th District, which is a much more intensive procedure than a re-canvass.
A spokesperson for York said there are four paper absentee ballots in Lawrence County that were thrown out because they either lacked a signature on the ballot package or the package it was sent in.
In Carter there are 15 such ballots, which also lacked signatures, that will be looked at by the state legislature when it convenes in January.
For a county or district office a recount is filed with the circuit clerk and heard by the circuit court, but in the case of the Governor, Lt. Governor or the General Assembly the recount is filed for in Frankfort and performed by the state legislature when it convenes.
The candidates have 15 days from the time the re-canvass is certified to file for a recount.
None of the candidates or incumbents can be seated in the legislature until the matter is resolved.
