Judge: This GOP primary election and recount wasn't funky, it goes to 'Funke' Frommeyer

A judge certified the winner of a Republican primary in a state Senate seat Friday and dismissed allegations that election equipment was improperly sealed, following a hand recount that showed no change in the vote totals of the top two finishers.

Campbell Circuit Judge Daniel Zalla dismissed ballot integrity allegations in the recount petition of Jessica Neal, who posted a $57,368 bond to initiate the Aug. 10 hand recount of ballots in her loss to Shelley "Funke" Frommeyer.

The report that recount chairman Jack Porter submitted to the court indicated there was no change in the vote totals for each candidate, with Frommeyer receiving 4,094 votes and Neal receiving 3,787.

Despite the outcome of the recount, Neal had filed a motion to set those results aside due to alleged ballot integrity concerns, citing that only a portion of voting machines containing ballots from Campbell County had yellow security seals at the top of the equipment. She also claimed Porter did not enforce recount procedures uniformly.

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However, Zalla dismissed Neal's concerns and concurred with testimony from Campbell County Clerk Jim Leursen that yellow seals at the top of the machines were optional and not required by state law, as the required blue seals at the bottom of the machines — where the ballots are actually contained — were all properly secured.

Zalla's order stated that while Neal had "offered some conjecture about ballot security," she had "not offered even the slightest amount of evidence concerning such ballot security, ballot tampering, ballot handling re: negligence/fraud, compromise of the chain of custody of the voting machines and ballots, voting tapes, or flawed recount procedures."

Dismissing Neal's motion to set aside the recount results over the allegations, the order goes on to state that the county clerks fulfilled their statutory duties of securing the ballots and machines "in an exemplary way."

"The cherished civil right of a fair election has been maintained in this primary election," Zalla wrote. "The cornerstone of ballot integrity has not been compromised or eroded, but was properly laid and remained secure through the primary election, including during the ballot recount."

Asked for her reaction to the ruling and if she will appeal, Neal told The Courier Journal she is not prepared to comment "until my attorney has reviewed the full report."

Zalla's order went on to cite eight pages of testimony from an Aug. 19 hearing in the case that he found "illuminating," which included short excerpts of Neal and petitioner witness Stephen Knipper saying they did not have evidence that the recount totals were incorrect or that county clerks had committed some type of fraud.

In one excerpt of Knipper's testimony, he is asked what statute required the yellow seals in question, answering: "Sir, I can't quote you the law, I don't know."

Knipper and state Sen. Adrienne Southworth, R-Lawrenceburg, both speculated about misconduct by officials in the Neal recount at a conference last week of discredited election fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell — who is now being sued for defamation by Dominion and Smartmatic over debunked and baseless claims the two voting-tech companies conspired to rig the 2020 election so former President Donald Trump would lose.

"If the machines are doing stuff, they're gonna have to stuff ballots in order to get the recounts to work," Southworth told the conference attendees. "And we watched it. (Neal) walks in the very first morning on recount day, almost half the machines: busted seals."

Southworth and Knipper have conducted a "Restore Election Integrity" tour across the state over the past year, which has been criticized for pushing baseless conspiracies about Kentucky's voting machines being hooked up to the internet and fraud causing the defeats of Trump in 2020 and former Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019.

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Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams has criticized the recount petitions of Neal and five other GOP primary losers from the "liberty" wing of the party as "frivolous," saying they have been pushed by "conspiracy theorists" making unfounded allegations about election fraud — specifically referring to Southworth and Knipper.

In a statement, Adams said Judge Zalla's order "confirmed the obvious: We run fair, free and honest elections in Kentucky."

"These frivolous recount efforts continue to cost taxpayers, disrupt the work of election officials and threaten our ability to prepare for the November election," Adams stated. "We checked the tech, and it works. Stop the insanity.”

Adams also took a shot at Knipper by highlighting his testimony, cited in Zalla's order, that Knipper had no evidence of fraud or that the recount was inaccurate, tweeting: "Here’s what these people say when they’re under oath instead of on YouTube."

As for Southworth's suggestion at the Lindell conference that someone "stuffed" ballots into the machines, Adams tweeted Tuesday that it is "a new level of low" for a sitting state senator to accuse county clerks of felony election fraud.

Five of the six recount petitions have been dismissed in circuit courts, though the petitions of primary losers Gerardo Serrano and Bridgette Ehly are before the Court of Appeals.

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Ehly — who lost her state House primary in a blowout and had her petition dismissed without a recount — has said the petitions are a method to "check the tech" and "look under the hood" of voting machines to verify they are accurate. She and other recount petitioners have also forcefully criticized Adams for calling their efforts frivolous, with the Boone County Republican Party also censuring Adams for his criticism.

One recount petition is still pending in LaRue Circuit Court, where GOP primary candidate Courtney Gilbert — who lost her race by 36 percentage points and more than 2,000 votes — posted a $15,516 bond Friday to initiate the recount, which is expected to begin Thursday.

Responding to a tweet by Adams celebrating Zalla's ruling, Ehly wrote that the "McConnell Crime Family sticks together" — an apparent reference to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"If Liberty Patriots stick together, we will restore election integrity!" Ehly wrote on Facebook. "Let’s hear your voices social media 'Liberty' influencers!"

Adams and the State Board of Elections indicated two weeks ago they were moving forward with a finalized general election ballot featuring the six winners in the GOP primaries where there was a recount petition, despite several of the cases still being pending.

"We've had enough harm to our taxpayers and to our democracy by these folks," Adams said before the vote to certify the general election ballot. "It's time to put an end to this madness and certify these people and let them get on with their fall campaigns."

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky judge certifies primary winner after recount shows no change