Voter registration books are open, recanvass of votes not expected to be requested

Posted November 12, 2014 at 3:11 pm

In all liklihood, there will not be any request for a racanvass of votes in local races from last Tuesday’s general election in Albany and Clinton County.

Although the deadline to request a recanvass of the votes wasn’t until the close of business in the County Clerk’s Office at 4 p.m. Wednesday, November 12, as of press time Tuesday morning, November 11, no candidate had made a request for a recanvass, according to County Clerk Shelia Braswell-Booher.

Should any recanvass have been requested prior to the cut-off date and time, the recanvass would have taken place on Thursday, November 13 at 9 a.m. and should that occur, details will be published next week.

The closest races in last week’s election was for the six seats on the Albany City Council. Some 10 candidates were on the ballot, with the closest race between the sixth and final seated candidate and the seventh highest vote getter being some 21 votes.

The mayor’s race was a 95 vote margin and no county or district-wide race within the county was within 100 votes between the winning and losing candidates.

Also, voter registration books are now re-open to anyone wishing to register to vote and for anyone wishing to change party affiliation and be able to vote in the new party primary next May, they will need to do so no later than December 31.

In other election related news, Attorney General Jack Conway announced that his Election Fraud Hotline received 226 calls from more than 50 counties between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Time on election day. No calls were reported from Clinton County.

Of the calls received, 33 involved complaints of electioneering within 300 feet of a polling place and 16 calls involved allegations of vote buying/selling.

The Office of the Attorney General, by law, cannot provide details regarding specific complaints or possible pending litigation.

As required by statute, the Office of Attorney General will select six counties at random drawing and a post-election audit will be conducted in those counties. Each county will undergo independent inquiries for any potential irregularities that may have occurred on election day.

Pursuant to state statute, the Kentucky Attorney General is required to conduct a post-election audit investigation in no fewer than five percent of Kentucky’s counties following each primary and general election. The counties are selected in a public drawing and must be done within 20 days of the election.