School board candidate who pushed for book ban seeks election recount after race flips
A candidate who pushed the Harlem School Board to consider removing library books focused on issues related to lesbian, gay and queer life is promising to seek an election recount after her race flipped in favor of an opponent.
Pamela Harding is a minister who questioned whether books in the Harlem High School library focused on sexuality and queer identity should be banned. She had narrowly led the race to fill an unexpired term on the Harlem School Board on election night when the race was too close to call.
It turned out that one of her three opponents, Megan Hastings, a non-binary mother of two mixed-race children married to another woman, overtook Harding and won the election once all mail-in ballots had been counted and the results finalized Tuesday. State law requires all mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but received after the election to be counted and included in the final vote tally.
Hastings wins: Mail-in ballots reverse lead in Harlem School Board race
Just 13 votes separate the candidates. Hastings got 1,370 votes to Harding's 1,357, according to official results.
"I am demanding a recount regarding this result," Harding wrote in a Facebook post.
Efforts to reach Harding to comment for this story were not successful.
Winnebago County Clerk & Recorder Lori Gummow said Harding is within her rights to seek what is called a discovery recount because her vote tally is within 5% of the leading vote getter. Once the election results are canvassed and certified by her office, Harding can request a recount in 25% of precincts.
Harding gets to choose which precincts are recounted.
Gummow said although she has overseen many such recounts, they have rarely, if ever, uncovered discrepancies. None have led to a change in election outcome. Discovery recounts are used by candidates to search for irregularities. If enough are found, they can bring that information to a circuit court judge to review.
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Hastings in a phone interview said she decided to run for the school board seat in part because of what she saw as a brewing effort to further marginalize LGBTQ+ and minority students.
"I have skin in the game," Hastings said. "I have two children in the district, and they will be for a while. They are only in elementary school. They are being raised by two queer parents, and they are mixed race. It's beyond a question that it was absolutely imperative to me that all kids be represented and advocated for. Not just the kids who Pam Harding feels deserve it."
Harding will have five days to submit a request for a discovery recount after the election is certified Tuesday.
Jeff Kolkey can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: 'Queer' Harlem Schools candidate wins seat by 13 votes over pastor
