Recount in Springfield school board race? The option hasn't been requested, clerk says

Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller said any candidate who loses an election by less than 1% of the vote has the right to ask for a recount.

That option is available to Landon McCarter, who came in third during a hard fought campaign by four candidates for two open seats on the Springfield school board. He lost the second seat on the board after receiving 274 fewer votes than incumbent Shurita Thomas-Tate.

Thomas-Tate received 13,143 or 24.79% of the votes and McCarter received 12,869 or 24.27% of the votes, a margin of just 0.52 percentage points.

The first seat on the board was won by candidate Judy Brunner, who led with 15,055 or 28.39% of the votes during the April 4 election.

Schoeller said if the difference between winning and losing is half of 1% of the votes, his office has the discretion to conduct a recount before results are verified. However, if the difference is between .50% and 1%, the request for a recount must be initiated by the candidate.

As of Thursday, no recount had been requested by the candidate, Schoeller said. The News-Leader reached out to McCarter, who has not responded to requests for comment since the polls closed.

If there is a request for a recount, it must be filed in the court system after the results are certified, a decision that will be made at 2 p.m. Monday.

Schoeller is planning to be at the school board meeting Tuesday evening to swear in Brunner for her first term and Thomas-Tate for a second term.

The county will recount, by hand, a randomly drawn sample of at least 5% of the ballots cast Tuesday to verify that they line up with the machine count. The county uses a bipartisan process to pull the sample and to oversee the recount.

A routine part of the verification process, the hand recount starts at 9 a.m. Friday and candidates can attend, or send a proxy, to witness the work.

"The great thing about the (sample) recount is there really was an error, we'll find it before we certify the election," Schoeller said.

"This is my ninth year being county clerk and unless something drastically changes (Friday), I've never seen a hand count overturn a machine count and we've had ties, we've had one vote margins."

There have been three full vote recounts requested during Schoeller's tenure, all initiated by his office.

Schoeller said once election results are certified, candidates that lost by less than 1% of votes have at least five days — and possibly up to 30, depending on the reading of the state statute — to request a recount. "I'd have to ask my attorney if it is the five-day one or the 30-day one that is applicable."

He said the request deadline is rarely an issue because if candidates want a recount they typically make the request as soon as they're eligible.

Asked if a losing candidate is still eligible to request a recount after a different candidate is sworn into the office that he or she sought, Schoeller said he was not sure and that challenges are usually filed before that point.

The county has a total of 65 provisional ballots that were cast by residents whose eligibility to vote was in question at their polling place. Those are typically counted, Schoeller said, as long as the signature on the provisional ballot matches what the county has on file and eligibility is verified.

Schoeller said the county received five absentee ballots mailed before the election that did not arrive in time to be counted Tuesday. Any overseas or military ballots must arrive by noon Friday to be counted.

He said the ballots counted after election day rarely, if ever, sway the outcome of an election. "All of those are fairly small and then you have to make the assumption that every vote that would come from that would go toward one candidate and even that, statistically, is pretty small."

In November 2020, a narrow margin of votes between two candidates in the 135th House District — Betsy Fogle, the Democratic challenger, and Steve Helms, the Republican incumbent — triggered an automatic recount by the county. They were separated by 76 votes, or 0.43%.

Fogle led on election night and that lead widened after absentee and provisional ballots were counted. The recount verified that she won the seat.

Schoeller's office initiated recounts for two tied elections in 2015, a city election in Fair Grove and a school issue in Walnut Grove.

He said a second election was scheduled to decide the outcome in Walnut Grove. The Fair Grove election was settled by a coin toss.

Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Recount in SPS school board race? None requested, county official says