Kevin Calvey still in runoff in Oklahoma County DA race after recount

A hand recount of the nearly 58,000 ballots cast in Oklahoma County in the Republican primary election ended at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, sooner than expected.

In the end, Kevin Calvey remains in a runoff with Gayland Gieger in the race for Oklahoma County district attorney.

Calvey, an Oklahoma County commissioner and former state legislator, picked up only two more votes in the recount. He needed more than 30 more to avoid the runoff.

"We have no regrets and it’s full speed ahead to the runoff election in August," Calvey said.

The winner of the Aug. 23 runoff will face Democrat Vicki Behenna, a former federal prosecutor, in the general election Nov. 8.

The winner of the general election takes office in January.

Calvey needed 50% of the primary election vote, plus one vote, to avoid a runoff. After the recount, he remained at 49.97%

Gieger, a longtime Oklahoma County assistant district attorney, claimed Calvey tried to stop the runoff because "our polling shows the race is statistically tied."

"We look forward to the voters now having a clear choice between a career prosecutor and a career politician," Gieger said.

Calvey ended up with 26,985 votes after the recount.

Gieger had 12,554, defense attorney Jacqui Ford had 7,804 and defense attorney Robert W. Gray had 6,660.

Thousands of GOP voters did not mark their ballots in the DA race, the recount showed. Gieger picked up two more votes, Ford stayed the same and Gray got two more.

Calvey asked for the recount July 1. He said he paid $12,000 to make it happen.

The recount got underway at 1:03 p.m. July 6. Oklahoma County Election Board Secretary Doug Sanderson had predicted it would take weeks because a number of his employees were out with COVID-19.

He was able to finish instead in six days after the Oklahoma State Election Board sent four of its employees over to help.

Calvey, 55, began a new advertising campaign Monday on cable stations. "Kevin Calvey prosecuted terrorists in Iraq, and he'll prosecute bad guys here in Oklahoma," a narrator says at the end of the 30-second spot. "Endorsed by Sheriff Tommie Johnson."

Calvey had so-called "watchers" present every day of the recount to look at each ballot after a caller announced the vote. Calvey on Wednesday thanked his more than 40 volunteers for donating their time and expertise to "this project."

"We didn’t expect the election to be overturned, but in a primary race that was decided by just 30 votes, we felt an obligation to perform a good-faith check on the system. Our team did find some errors but not enough to affect the outcome."

He also said he was very optimistic abut the runoff because he has been endorsed by both Ford and Gray.

Gieger, 55, said the recount confirmed the majority of the Oklahoma County Republicans who voted in the June 28 primary did not want Calvey.

Gieger thanked election board workers "for their professionalism, hard work and accuracy."

The secretary of the state Election Board said Wednesday that the recount in Oklahoma County, along with recounts in two other counties, "proved once again that Oklahoma has one of the most accurate and secure voting systems in the entire world."

"That is something that every Oklahoman can be proud of,” Paul Ziriax said.

The other recounts involved a county commissioner race in McIntosh County and a county assessor race in Nowata County. The state Election Board said those hand recounts exactly matched the machine results.

“These hand recounts are the latest proof that Oklahoma’s eScan voting devices accurately tabulate ballots. Voters should avoid misinformation that claims otherwise,” Ziriax said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Recount over in Oklahoma County DA race; runoff still on