Recount begins

By MATT SANCTIS   The News-Messenger   11 December 2004

Six weeks after voters in Sandusky and Ottawa counties cast their votes, elections officials in both counties will be counting those votes again next week.

This time, the recount was forced by presidential candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties, who demanded recounts in each of Ohio's 88 counties. They also put up the $113,600 or $10 per precinct that is required to force a recount.

Candidates from both parties argued that the recount was necessary to account for voting irregularities in several counties statewide.

Meanwhile, state and some county officials say the $10 is inadequate and taxpayers will be forced to subsidize a large portion of the recount.

But Sandusky County Elections Director Barb Tuckerman said the money that the county received probably will cover the costs. Eight two-person teams will begin recounting ballots on Wednesday, Tuckerman said.

"They gave us a check for $720, which should cover the costs," she said. "We don't have to give that money back whether we use all of it or not."

In a worst-case scenario, the total cost for the recount could come to $1,000, Tuckerman said. In that case, the county would have to foot the bill for the remaining money from the general fund budget.

Monette Garn, assistant director of the Ottawa County Board of Elections, said her staff will begin recounting ballots Monday morning.

Election workers will have to count 3 percent of the ballots by hand and run them through scanning machines. If the results match, workers will run every ballot through the machines. If the results do not match after two tries, Ottawa County workers will be forced to count each of the 23,468 ballots by hand.

Garn said if workers are forced to count each ballot by hand, the process would be time consuming, and it may not be as accurate.

"Personally, I think the machines would be much more accurate, because if you have to hand count each one, there's a much greater chance of human error," she said. "I'm very confident in the accuracy of our machines."

Sandusky County workers already had to recount votes for the county treasurer's race last month. That recount was automatically triggered because of the closeness of the vote.

If the process goes as smoothly this time, Tuckerman said, the recount could be finished in about half a day. Otherwise, she is unsure exactly how long it will take.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certified the statewide vote earlier this week, declaring President George W. Bush as the winner with a 118,775-vote lead over Democrat John Kerry. The results of the certification were slightly different from the election night results but were not nearly close enough to merit an automatic recount.

Neither Garn nor Tuckerman anticipate any significant change in the results after the recount.

"I don't see it changing much at all," Tuckerman said. "It may change a few votes here and there, but I don't think that anyone thinks this will really change the results."

Although the recount will mean more work for both election boards, Tuckerman said the additional duties will not bother her staff.

"They just want to show what the votes were in each county," Tuckerman said. "I don't have any problem with that."