Reynolds remains winner in recount; Hearing Monday on voting irregularities

Transcript Staff

November 14, 2008 01:14 am

— Both candidates in the state Senate District 43 recount picked up votes Wednesday but the outcome in Cleveland and Oklahoma counties did not change.
State Sen. Jim Reynolds, the incumbent, received 6,467 votes in Cleveland County and challenger David Boren received 4,540. At the polls here Nov. 4, Reynolds received 6,445 and Boren received 4,519.
In both counties combined, Reynolds, a Republican, led by 157 votes after all absentee and provisional ballots were counted from the Nov. 4 election. After the recount, Reynolds led by 159 votes.
Cleveland County Election Board secretary Paula Roberts said the additional votes came from workers counting some marks that the optical scanners do not count.
"When people do the recount, they tend to count more votes because the scanners don't pick up everything," she said.
The recount involves nine Cleveland County precincts and about 20 precincts in Oklahoma County.
Boren, the Democratic candidate, requested the recount. Both candidates have alleged irregularities in the process.
The last recount in Cleveland County was a city council race in 1992.
Sixteen workers recounted the Cleveland County ballots Wednesday. Since the election, the ballots have been sealed inside a truck in the sheriff's department's locked jail compound.
But the recount does not mean the end of the election dispute. A hearing is scheduled in Oklahoma County District Count on Monday to hear allegations of voting irregularities made by both candidates.