Yogi Berra might have been talking about baseball when he reportedly said “it’s not over ’til it’s over,” but the same can be said about elections. Nearly a month after the Nov. 8 election, recounts have been called for both Antioch and Richmond city council races.
An official recount of all paper ballots likely will begin sometime before Tuesday for both Joy Motts, an Antioch candidate who lost to Tamisha Torres-Walker by three votes when an audit was completed last week, and Andrew Butt, who lost to Cesar Zepeda following a draw of the two Richmond candidates’ names on Tuesday.
“It kind of feels like Groundhog Day,” Butt said this week before the drawing of envelopes, noting the long, drawn-out process has been difficult.
Butt was ahead by five votes before last week’s audit when the candidates tied at 1,921 votes each. He said his family filed the official paperwork asking for a recount on Wednesday, citing a “combination of wanting to follow it through to the end having come this far, and feeling like there are some issues worth looking into.”
Motts, who ran in a three-way race in District 1, announced her decision on social media late Tuesday night, saying: “In an election this close, I believe it is important to make sure all votes were counted.”
“It’s just so close,” Motts, a former council member, said on Wednesday. “I just feel like I think Tamisha would do the same thing too. … It just would be the right thing to do for a voter and you know, make sure that ultimately the outcome is accurate, that every vote was counted.”
Motts added that she hadn’t realized last week that the Contra Costa County audit would simply count the copies of ballots scanned into computers. She would prefer the actual paper ballots be counted, which will require the opening and sorting of many boxes now stored in a warehouse, according to officials.
That recount method – the most time-consuming – is also the most expensive at about $38,500, with prepayments required each of the five or six days it will take to complete. If both candidates choose the same method, the cost can be shared, and if the outcomes of the races are different, the candidates would be reimbursed, election officials said.
“Right now, I just honestly feel like it (the cost) is punitive and that it really is trying to discourage people from doing a recount,” Motts said. “I can’t imagine why it would cost that much money.”
Even so, Motts is moving forward with her recount request and asking supporters to go to her website to donate money to help defray the costs.
In her district, only one-third of eligible voters turned in their ballots, a fact that doesn’t sit well with Motts.
“It’s just really unfortunate that especially in America, that people don’t realize what an incredible freedom that we have to decide who we want to govern us, and it’s just a shame more people don’t participate,” she said.
Check back for updates.
Source: www.mercurynews.com