Columbus City Council District 1 Councilman-elect Jerone Wood has prevailed by a single vote for the council’s District 1 seat after a two-hour recount.
According to the newest tally completed Friday by a three-person recount commission, Wood, a Democrat, won over his opponent, Republican incumbent Dascal Bunch, by one vote. The final recount tally was announced shortly after 11 a.m. Friday.
“I can take a deep breath now,” Wood said.
On Nov. 5, it appeared that Wood was one of four Democrats who won city council seats, giving the Democrats their first majority on the council since 1983.
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But Wood defeated Bunch by only one vote, 260 to 259. Ten days after the election, Bunch officially filed for a recount.
Under an order signed Dec. 5 by Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton, a three-member commission convened for the first time at 8:30 a.m. Friday to take an oath and begin the recount process.
The three-person commission that conducted the recount was formed at the beginning of the month. Kenneth Whipker served as the GOP representative, Steve Schoettmer was the Democrat’s representative, and Sue Chapple was chosen as the third commissioner, who was referred to in court last month as the “mechanic commissioner.”
The recount commission was given one week, until Dec. 20th, to complete its work.
The commission was responsible for following the Indiana State Recount Commission guidelines, which provide 22 separate procedures that describe step-by-step how a recount should be conducted.
One requirement is that the recount be confined to a roped-off area of the Election Board Room on the first floor of the courthouse. Only the three commissioners and county clerk Jay Phelps will be allowed in that area, while all other observers — including attorneys and media — must remain on the other side of the ropes.
Both candidates’ attorneys — Ross Thomas, representing Wood, and Scott Andrews, representing Bunch — did stand on the recount side. Phelps said the attorneys asked Worton ahead of the recount if they could be on that side as counsel and Worton was fine with it. Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chairman Bob Hyatt also stood on the side of the recount as a watcher, which Worton approved.
Recounts in Indiana involving electronic voting machines are done by reprinting the vote tallies on the machines and comparing them to the number of signatures in the poll books, Phelps said. Additionally, mail-in paper ballots are recounted by hand.
The last recount done in a Columbus municipal election was in the 2011 general election, after Republican Frank Jerome defeated Democrat Greg Knoll by two votes, 879 to 877, to win the Columbus City Council District 3 seat, Phelps said.
The results did not change after that recount, Phelps said.
Bunch said he does not plan to appeal the recount commission’s findings.
“This is it,” Bunch said. “I appreciate all the support I’ve had,” describing the result as bittersweet. “It’s one of those things you don’t want to give it up but you do. Now we know. Before today we didn’t know. Today it’s finalized and everybody’s going to move forward.”
Wood said the Democrats’ control of Columbus City Council is a change for Columbus but “a change in a good direction.”
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To view more photos from the recount, see therepublic.com.
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