No recanvasses to be conducted for local election results

By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
Although a few of the races in Barren County’s elections were somewhat narrow, only two local races had results close enough, according to Glasgow News 1 calculations, to be eligible for their candidates to request a recanvass. Those two races were the Glasgow and Cave City council contests.
The deadline was 4 p.m. Tuesday to submit a written request for a recanvass, and none of those council candidates did so, Barren County Clerk Helena Chase Birdwell said Wednesday.
Only one person, Mike Haynes, who ran for the District 7 magisterial seat, requested a recanvass, she said. That request was based on initial information he received, but upon further review, he was not eligible, Birdwell said. Brad Groce, a former Glasgow councilman, received 759 votes, and Haynes got 725 votes in that race.
Kentucky Revised Statute 117.305 states: “A candidate’s written request for a recanvass shall be insufficient to compel the recanvass unless the difference between the number of votes received by the requesting candidate and the number of votes received by any other candidate or candidates for the same office is less than one percent (1%) of the total votes which were cast for such office.”
A recanvass typically involves, essentially, checking to make sure the vote totals were tallied correctly. State law specifies it involves checking and recanvassing the voting equipment, valid federal provisional ballots, valid federal provisional absentee ballots, and absentee ballots of any precinct or any number of precincts involving the candidate’s race.
A recanvass would only be done for the particular race in which the requesting candidate was involved.
If there is no recanvass, as is the case here, or if no errors were found or once any discovered errors were corrected during a recanvass, only then are the results from the election certified as “official.”
Those who file their candidacy paperwork at the Kentucky secretary of state’s office – state and federal candidates – must file any requests for recanvasses at that same office.
A recount can be a much more detailed and lengthy process and involves the filing of a civil lawsuit in the appropriate circuit court. A candidate would have to have a number of votes cast for them “equal to not less than twenty-five percent (25%) of the number of votes cast for the successful candidate for the office,” according to KRS 120.155(1), for such an action to go forward, and it would have to be filed within 30 days after Election Day.