Zerick Guinn
Democratic Precinct 2 constable candidate Zerick Guinn has requested a recount in his primary runoff against Chris Diaz, who won by 16 votes after incorrect election results posted online showed Guinn with a commanding lead late on election night.
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“This is not an example of a candidate with sour grapes. This is a candidate who was involved in an election where the individual in charge of counting the ballots made numerous mistakes,” said [HCDP Chair Lane] Lewis, referring to County Clerk Stan Stanart. “This is an example of a candidate who wants to make sure everything was done correctly.”
Lewis said he was not sure what Guinn’s campaign would need to pay for the recount, but estimated it at about $2,000.
I’d have done the same in Guinn’s shoes. I doubt a recount will make a difference because they very seldom do, but I’d still want to go through the motions after what happened on the night of the 31st. We’ll see how it goes.
The errors most likely to change the result of this contest would be those committed by Democrat party officials in each individual precinct in signing in voters, assigning those voters to the proper ballot (especially if there were consolidated voting precincts, only some of whom were within the relevant district), and in allowing voters not on the roster to vote a full ballot without requiring use of a provisional ballot. If the recount just consists of taking the final numbers from each precinct and adding them up again, I would be surprised to see any change in the result. Also, Guinn’s advisors should check to see how many of the Democrat run-off primary participants were not eligible because they had earlier voted in the May GOP primary. In my years as an election judge, I have seen voters who voted early and then showed up again on election day, and voters who did not remember that they had voted in the other party’s primary in the first round. The voting rolls provided on election day now mark all early voters, mail ballot recipients, and take out the persons who voted in the other party, but mistakes still happen.