District 1 Commissioner Election Recount Demonstrates County Voting System Integrity

District 1 Commissioner Election Recount Demonstrates County Voting System Integrity 

Monday June 24h starting at 9 AM and ending at 5 PM, Dearborn County Recount Commission supervised The Recount of the D-1 Republican Primary Election between Incumbent Jim Thatcher and Challenger Mike Lawrence. 

Lawrence had requested the recount when the results of the election showed only a 28 vote difference in the tally. Twice Mr Lawrence was faced with attempts to stop a recount from Thatcher’s 3 lawyers from Jeffersonville IN. 

The first attempt by Jim Thatcher’s lawyers stated  that Mike Lawrence had not paid his bond in a timely manner, with case law that Judge Negangard ruled against stating it made no sense in this case. Lawrence paid the bond as soon as he had the amount owed ($450) from Judge Negangard. 

 

The second attempt by Mr Thatcher’s lawyers at the next hearing  was to say that Mr. Lawrence could not amend his petition to ask for a Hand (or Manual) Count. They wanted a machine count only. Judge Negangard agreed with Lawrence’s lawyer on the timely petition for recount which allowed him to amend to have a Hand Count. Judge Negangard further noted it would be less costly to have the hand count as a machine count that did not balance would lead to a hand count anyway. 

On June 24th the actual recount could not proceed until all the voting center totes and  absentee ballots had been sorted into precincts. That took all morning and actual counting began after lunch around 1PM. It took about 4 hours. 

There were 3 teams of 2 poll workers- one Dem and one Rep. did the sorting and counting. There were 2 watchers for each team selected one per candidate. This was supervised by Robert Stark, Rep, Christine Craig, Dem, and Debbie Bentle, Machine Technician- the Recount Commission.

Jim Thatcher and 2 of his attorneys and Mike Lawrence remained in the room in  back  and approved each precinct result. Mr Lawrence thanked all the workers for their dedication and noted that they demonstrated  the accuracy of the voting system. 

 

Though not certified yet by Judge Negangard- the results had 3 missing ballots in Greendale 4 that were subsequently found in a later tote. There was one vote less for Lawrence in one precinct and one vote more in another. This led to a net zero change in the count. The integrity of the system held up to the recount. 

Outside the room but viewing the process through the glass were: Marc Emral, register Editor, Travis Thayer, Eagle Radio 99.3 ( he was also watching livestream from Uncle Sam for Freedom as he had to be at work later too), Tamara Taylor, The Beacon, and Uncle Sam Mortenson who live-streamed the entire process from outside the room, and myself.  A county sheriff deputy was present throughout the process. 

The trigger for the recount was the small  28 vote difference in the election and for some  people included the exactly 50 vote difference in the D1 and D2 Commissioner races total vote count.

The only question remaining is : Why did an elected official, Commissioner  Thatcher, try —not once, but twice— to stop a recount as a reasonable request for a check on the election system?

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township