Recount confirms 1st Dist. winner

Lalouette-Crawford defeats Dodd by three votes.

A five-hour hand count of ballots Friday afternoon at the courthouse in Marion confirmed that Lori Lalouette-Crawford will be the new Marion County commissioner for District 1.

The final count revealed that Republican Lalouette-Crawford received 678 votes compared to 675 votes cast for independent Craig Dodd, who had asked for the recount at his personal expense.

Write-in candidate Donna Klose received 113 votes.

Commissioners canvassed the recount at their Monday meeting, formally making the results official and without the possibility of further challenge.

A careful process

Tina Spencer, county election officer and clerk, administered the recount process, which actually was carried out by a board comprised of three bipartisan registered voters from District 2: Eileen Sieger, Anita Brookens and Ruth Lange, all of Marion.

?I felt that the recount board was very competent,? Spencer said. ?They did a terrific job and were very careful and attentive.?

Spencer said her goal was to recruit a team without bias.

?I wanted to be sure that I chose intelligent, well-respected and trustworthy people who did not handle any of the ballots pertaining to this race on election day, and who have no vested interest in the outcome?they are not eligible to vote on the race,? she said.

?I also wanted to be sure I had representation from both major parties. I am fully confident in their abilities and their impartiality.?

After team members were sworn in and Spencer explained the process, the ballots arrived in sealed plastic envelopes from the polling sites within the 1st District.

Once the team opened the envelopes, the three team members sorted the ballots according to the rural townships and city precincts that cast their ballot at the same location.

Once sorted, the count began. One member of the team read the result of each ballot, while the other two members kept track of the votes on separate tally sheets.

When one stack of ballots was processed, each of the two recording members announced their tally to ensure accuracy.

After all the ballots had been recounted, the result totals for each township and precinct were reviewed once again, then were added on multiple calculators to verify the final total.

?If I ever have to repeat this process in the future, I think I will add a fourth member to sit behind the reader and verify that what is read aloud is also what is on the page,? Spencer said. ?I have no doubt this recount was accurate. I simply feel that this would be an additional double-check.

?In addition, it would be good to have a backup person who could read when the first person gets tired.?

Unusual from the start

The recount climaxed an unusual election process for the 1st District seat. It began when incumbent commissioner Roger Fleming announced on the filing deadline day that he would not be seeking relection.

His announcement meant potential successors would need to use alternate strategies to get their names before the voters.

Lalouette-Crawford, an attorney from Hillsboro, and Donald Ewert, a farmer from Durham, ran as write-in candidates for the Republi?can nomination in the Aug. 5 primary.

Dodd, a Hillsboro business owner, qualified for the general-election ballot as an independent candidate by using the certification process.

Lalouette-Crawford prevailed over Ewert in the primary, 191-118.

On election night, Dodd led Lalouette-Crawford by two votes, 670-668, with about 22 ballots needing to be reviewed for various reason.

During the election canvass at the Nov. 10 Marion County Board of Commis?sioners meeting, the result was reversed: Lalouette-Crawford was credited with a one-vote win over Dodd, 676-675.

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