Supporters Give Candidate Funds To Pay For Recount Of Votes

A penny for their thoughts, a nickel a vote to pay for a recount.

Thirty citizens living in the Riverside School District recently gave school board candidate Patricia Blair the money to pay for a recount of this month’s election. But she isn’t sure if she wants to go through the process.

Blair at first was told by Spokane County Election officials that she had won the race against current board chair Janet Hansen. But shortly after, officials realized that the candidates names were flip-flopped on unofficial election returns.

Hansen was officially declared the winner last week after finishing the race with 1,475 votes to Blair’s 1,035.

Blair’s supporters said they question the county’s final tally.

Spokane County Election supervisor Tom Wilbur said the gaffe was an honest mistake.

Elections officials automatically recount ballots in races when a candidates margin of victory is less than half a percentage point.

With that not being the case in this race, Blair has to request and pay for the recount herself. The county charges five cents for every vote cast in the race to do a recount. With 2,510 votes cast, a recount would cost $125. Blair’s supporters have given her $137.

However, Blair said she might return the money to her supporters because she doesn’t know if she wants a ballot recount. “I’m waffling,” Blair said. “I just don’t know. There’s an awful lot of questions. I’m still receiving calls from supporters who wonder how all this could happen. It’s just gotten to be exhausting.”

, DataTimes