Prosecutor asks judge to throw out request for election recount
April 21, 2008
The Athens County Prosecutor’s office has asked a judge to dismiss a motion by a defeated county commission candidate who wants the votes in his race recounted by hand.
In the seven-candidate Democratic primary race for an open seat on the commission, Charlie Adkins tied for first with Jim Pancake. Adkins is a former president of a classified employees’ union at Ohio University, while Pancake is a former York Township trustee who has run unsuccessfully for state representative.
County elections officials flipped a coin to decide the outcome of the primary, and Pancake won. A computer recount didn’t change that outcome, as Pancake and Adkins lost one vote apiece, keeping them tied and maintaining the coin-flip outcome as binding.
Last week, Adkins’ father and sister filed a legal complaint in Athens County Common Pleas Court, asking Judge Michael Ward to order a hand recount of the votes in the primary.
On Thursday, Athens County assistant prosecutor Colleen Flanagan filed a motion to dismiss that complaint for lack of jurisdiction.
In the motion, Flanagan maintains that according to Ohio law, a valid recount complaint would have required a petition with the signatures of 25 people who voted in the election in question, and stating the grounds for demanding the recount.
State law also requires that the petitioners post a bond sufficient to cover costs associated with the case, in an amount to be determined by the clerk of the appropriate court.
The petitioners on Adkins’ behalf did none of these things, Flanagan noted, and therefore the Common Pleas Court cannot take jurisdiction of the case.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Larry Payne, an official of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, in November.
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jackscrow commented, on April 24, 2008 at 10:35 p.m.:
A coin flip over a hand recount? Especially when one of the candidates might very well be certifiably insane?
Warren has a good sense of humor.
Come on. Four witnesses and a hand count. How expensive can it be?
