Recount in GOP commissioners race in six precincts shows only one discrepancy
The Fayette County Elections Bureau completed its hand recount of six precincts’ worth of primary ballots in Fayette County’s Republican commissioner race with only one discrepancy found.
“They’re basically finished,” elections director MaryBeth Kuznik said Tuesday afternoon of the hand recount that started Monday.
Of the approximate 1,800 in-person and mail-in ballots for the GOP commissioners race in Connellsville Township, Dunbar Borough, South Connellsville Borough, Georges Township and precincts one and three in Bullskin Township, there was one discrepancy between the hand recount and the machine totals from the May primary.
Kuznik said the discrepancy could be from a human counting error during the recount, citing “counting fatigue” as a possibility. She explained that counting fatigue can occur when a person does a repetitive task over and over, loses focus and misses something.
The two-day process was conducted in a specially designed room near the elections office to allow the public to view the recount.
Elections bureau workers meticulously looked one by one at each ballot, announced the selections in the GOP commissioners race, recorded the votes and then held the paper up against a window for observers to see for themselves.
The recount was spearheaded by Recorder of Deeds Jon Marietta, who ran for county commissioner in the primary, but finished third behind incumbents David Lohr and Scott Dunn. Marietta lost the GOP nomination by 121 votes to Dunn, according to election night results that have yet to be certified due to the challenges in the six precincts.
Kuznik said the one discrepancy actually benefited Lohr.
“The machines performed exactly as suspected,” she said. “There’s no evidence of the bleed-through causing any problems; the results are exactly the same except for the one discrepancy.”
Marietta claimed that “bleed-through” from pen markings could have caused tabulating issues with the scanning equipment.
Kuznik said the machine scanners are designed to look only at the ovals on a ballot indicating the candidates receiving the vote. She added that the ballots themselves were printed so as not to have ovals overlapping the ovals printed on the other side of the paper ballot.
She said the elections bureau is required to conduct an audit following an election of 2% of the votes, which it did from two precincts for over 600 votes, making up over 2% of the votes. That audit showed no discrepancies.
Last week, Senior Judge John F. Wagner Jr. signed a consent order to mandate the recount. The elections board and Marietta’s attorney, Greg Teufel, agreed to the recount after Wagner ordered the elections office to turn over copies of ballots in the challenged precincts along with the digital “cast vote record” showing the tally of the votes.
Fayette County Solicitor Jack Purcell could not be reached for comment Tuesday.