School board candidate Kyla Cromer and campaign supporters Sharon Booz and Valerie Johnson check the results from the recounted voter ballots at the Cherokee Elections Office on Thursday afternoon.
Cherokee Tribune/Todd Hull
Cherokee Tribune/Todd Hull
Not a single vote changed from the initial counts the night of the July 31 primary election.
Kelly Marlow, who won against Kyla Cromer, will take her seat on the school board in January. Two commission candidates — incumbent Jim Hubbard and Ray Gunnin — will go into a runoff election Aug. 21.
For the BOC, the recount tally was Hubbard with 4,299 votes, or 45.2 percent; Gunnin with 2,613 votes, or 27.5 percent; and Channing Ruskell with 2,592 votes, or 27.3 percent.
For the BOE, Marlow received 2,973 votes, or 50.2 percent; and Cromer received 2,949 votes, or 49.8 percent.
Cromer, who requested the recount, lost her race by 24 votes. She was the only candidate present for the vote recount, however, several representatives watched the two-hour-long process on behalf of other candidates.
After the count was finalized, Cromer congratulated her opponent, thanked her supporters for their hard work throughout the campaign and showed her appreciation for all of the elections office employees.
“I was totally impressed with the entire process,” Cromer said. “Everyone here is very professional.”
Moving forward, Cromer said she will continue working for the students of Cherokee County.
Ruskell requested the recount for the commission race after coming in last against Hubbard and Gunnin, who received 21 more votes than Ruskell.
The votes were tallied again at the Albert L. Stone Elections Building at 400 East Main St. by three members of the Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration staff, overseen by Elections Supervisor Janet Munda and all members of the Board of Elections.
Munda, who updated attendees throughout the process, said all of the tallying went smoothly and her staff didn’t run into any errors.
“Everything went great,” Munda said. “The results are all the same.”
For these candidates to even suggest they'd have a miscount of 20 votes in the Ruskell election of less than 10000 people (or the 6000 for the Cromer election) votes is astounding in its implied insult. The Board of Elections people are not only top-notch professionals; they are also loyal Americans dedicated to protecting the absolute heart of the democratic process: Vote-counting. A single missed vote is offensive to the Board Of Elections. To even suggest they'd miss 20 implies either gross incompetence (insulting) or worse, corruption (illegal).
Of course the recount was perfect. As it needlessly pointed out, the count was perfect the night of July 31st as well, and after Election Certification on Friday, 8/3/12. Ms Munda and the esteemed members of the Board of Elections don't need to be complimented for doing their job properly - perfection is what they do and expect of themselves, for good reason. American democracy collapses otherwise.
Hopefully, the 2 failed candidates picked up the tab for this wasted day, as it only happened because of their request.