Steve Kelleys opponent demands recount. Recount starts Monday morning. By Bill Mardis Commonwealth Journal Rodney Casada, the apparently unsuccessful Democrat candidate for Pulaski County judge-executive, yesterday morning filed a civil action in Pulaski Circuit Court asking for a recount of ballots cast in the judge-executive’s race during the November 4 general election. Named as defendants in the civil action are Steve Kelley, GOP nominee for judge-executive who apparently defeated Casada 11,221 to 10,012; Pulaski County Clerk Ralph Troxtell, chair of the Pulaski County Board of Elections; board of election members Rick Barker, Mark Vaught, and the sheriff of Pulaski County through his designee, Larry Wesley. Casada, whose civil action was filed by Somerset attorney John G. Prather Jr., said he believes “upon information” that election machines used in Pulaski County were not properly tested for “cross-over” voting. According to the civil complaint, Casada said the voting machines should have undergone appropriate testing which would have determined that ballots marked as “straight ballots,” but with “cross-over voting” into the opposite party, would accurately register any cross-over votes. Of the 21,928 ballots cast in Pulaski County during Election Day, 5,229 Republicans and 1,217 Democrats voted the “straight ticket.” Pulaski County’s voting machines, supplied by Harp Enterprises, are supposed to count a cross-over vote even when a voter votes a “straight ticket.” In other words, if a Republican voted the straight GOP ticket – put his or her “X” under the log cabin – and then “crossed over” and voted for Democratic judge-executive candidate Casada, the optical scanner of the ballot should give a vote to each Republican candidate except Steve Kelley, Casada’s Republican opponent. It should count a vote for Casada and not for Kelley. Casada, in Florida on vacation, assured the Commonwealth Journal by cell phone, his request for a recount of votes is about integrity of the voting machines and not about the possibility of fraud. “Absolutely, it’s not about fraud,” Casada declared. “It’s only about the machines and how they are supposed to work,” he added. In a news release from Attorney Prather, Casada was quoted: “I am pursuing this action due to hundreds of calls I have received from all over the county. We have heard from just about every precinct from folks (who) voted for the Republican ticket and also checked my name. (They) feel their votes were not correctly counted.” The news release continued: “Casada, along with various members of his team, have confirmed with local election officials that Pulaski County voters would be allowed to vote a straight Republican ticket, yet still mark his name (Casada) and it would be counted on their ballots. “Not only was this confirmed by local election officials, it was also written about in the Commonwealth Journal stating voters could select the straight Republican ticket and if “Casada” (were) selected below then the vote would go to Casada instead of Kelley. Casada also feels some straight-line Democratic voters may have also voted for Steve Kelley, the attorney’s press release said. “After reviewing published results of the election, reports seem to reflect that all straight Republican votes went to Kelley and all straight Democratic votes went to Casada,” said the news release. “We are not challenging voters of Pulaski County,” Casada said in the news release. “We only want to make sure those voters (who) may decided to vote Republican and voted for me as well were counted correctly. “We think this could be a simple computer error, but I feel I owe it to the thousands of folks (who) did vote for me in this election to make sure the numbers are correct.” “Based on the results today, Steve Kelley is our county judge-executive elect,” Casada said. “My goal is to make sure if there (were) a computer programming error, we find that error and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I feel a countywide recount will be the only way to show if that error really was an issue or not.” “Regardless of the outcome, I want to make sure all Pulaski County voters, regardless of their party, know their individual voices have been heard and will be accurately counted,” Casada said in the news release. County Clerk Ralph Troxtell has full confidence in performance of the voting equipment. “Voting equipment in Pulaski County is the best in the United States,” said Troxtell. However, he said “ ... the challenge of the equipment will be good for the people to establish a trust in the paper ballot system.” The civil action has been assigned to Pulaski Circuit Judge David Tapp. The ballots are locked for 30 days after the election and only a circuit judge is allowed to examine the votes. Casada must post a bond covering the cost of the recount. Pursuant to KRS 120.185, Judge Tapp “... (upon posting of bond by Casada) shall at once enter an order directing voting machines, ballots, boxes and all papers pertaining to the election be transferred to circuit court and (Tapp) shall fix a date for the recount proceedings to begin ... ” The law says the recount shall be completed “ ... as soon as practicable.” Kelley doesn’t appear upset by the voting machine challenge. “We want the election to be fair and represent the people; what they want from government,” Kelley reacted. “If there is a problem, we want it fixed; we want it fair. “If I’m elected, I’m happy to serve. “If Rodney is elected he has my support,” Kelley said. Deadline for requesting a recanvass of votes passed at 4 p.m. yesterday and there were no requests. Recanvass is done by the Pulaski County Board of Elections and is a simple matter of checking tapes from the county’s voting machines. BILL MARDIS is the Commonwealth Journal’s editor emeritus. He can be reched at bmardis@somerset-kentucky.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 16:05:35 +0000
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