McComish's District 20 2nd-place finish confirmed
Results of recount are certified by judge in Superior Court

Nedra Lindsey. The Arizona Republic.
Sept. 24, 2004

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge certified the contested recount of the District 20 Republican state House of Representatives primary, confirming John McComish's second-place finish.

"I find that with respect to procedure that they used proper use of the statute in light of the limited time," said Judge Eddward P. Ballinger Jr., referring to Maricopa County elections officials.

But after listening to a day of arguments questioning the accuracy and consistency of the county's Optech IV-C ballot tabulating machines, Ballinger expressed concern over the degree to which some votes actually count.

"Evidence heard today indicates our current system does not have a great ability to get an accurate count," Ballinger said.

An attorney for Anton Orlich, the third-place finisher, argued that ballots were mishandled, a tabulation machine malfunctioned and because of these reputed errors, voter intent was not preserved in the recount.

Though Lisa Hauser asserted that the county Elections Department violated statutes by excessively handling and improperly storing the 25,000 District 20 ballots, the clearest error was with the machines.

"The recount can't be trusted because of this anomaly," Hauser said. "Voters can't trust it. Voters of District 20 can't trust it. I don't believe this court should trust it."

On Tuesday, the morning of the recount, Orlich led McComish by four votes, 5,533 to 5,529, according to the county.

The results of the recount did not just give McComish a win by 13 votes. The field of five candidates gained nearly 500 votes between them, according to information provided by the Elections Department.

The other contenders included incumbent Rep. Bob Robson, the primary's winner, and Jeff Dial and Linda Wegener, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

McComish was boosted in the recount by an extra 104 to Orlich's 87, the Elections Department said.

In court, Karen Osborne, the election director for Maricopa County, attributed the mushrooming of votes to the machine's reading of mailed-in early ballots with undervotes, those that indicated a vote for only one candidate instead of two.

"The IV-Cs have a great deal more sensitive technology," Osborne said. "They will pick up marks on ballots."

All early ballots were read by the machines during the primary and on the day of the recount.

However, one machine registered an 18 percent variance in reading undervotes, Hauser said.

The mail-in ballots apparently were more susceptible to having small, sometimes imperceptible marks.

Or the voter may not have used the correct pencil or pen and the machine picked it up, Osborne said.

"It's never going to pick it up perfectly," said Osborne, who said the machines were tested before the recount.

A representative from the company that makes the Optech IV-C did not provide testimony, although she works in a county building and was issued a subpoena.

The hearing ended at 4:30 p.m. because the county needed a decision to make a 4:45 ballot-printing deadline.

"It's unfortunate that a machine malfunction interfered with the will of the voters," Orlich said. "But the election process must go on. I wish John McComish the best."

McComish and Robson will face Libertarian Joel Beckwith and Democrat Jim Torgeson in the Nov. 2 general election. The top two will represent District 20 in the House.