BOISE, Idaho — Editor's Note: This article was first published by The Idaho Press.
Rebecca Arnold is appealing the result of last week’s recount in her Ada County Highway District commission race against Alexis Pickering, in which Arnold lost by four votes.
Filed in the Ada County District Court, Arnold’s appeal names Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane, Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts and Pickering as respondents. Arnold is requesting an explanation for why 31 “unexplained” absentee ballots appeared during the recount, and is asking the judge to remedy the situation by ordering a hand recount or dismissing those ballots.
“It was with great reluctance that I was compelled to file a recount appeal this weekend,” Arnold said in a statement. “I have every respect for the professionalism, competence and hard work done by the clerk, the prosecutor and their staffs so far in attempting to determine the lawful and actual outcome in the Zone 2 race.
“Unfortunately, the electronic ballot counting machines used by Ada County have not proved to be accurate enough to faithfully and precisely tabulate every voters’ intent in a race originally decided by 64 ten thousandths of one percent.”
The initial Nov. 3 results showed 15,735 votes for Pickering and 15,733 votes for Arnold, a two-vote difference. The recount results show 15,745 votes for Pickering and 15,741 votes for Arnold, a four-vote difference.
Arnold’s attorney, Boise-based David Leroy, said Arnold was concerned the 31 absentee ballots might have been counted twice, and with the razor-thin margins of the race, a hand recount was needed.
“She won the recount if you throw out the 31 undiscovered votes. … Unless those ballots are explained, unless it is determined they are valid votes,” they should be removed from the final count, Leroy said.
In an affidavit submitted to the court, Arnold takes issue with the clerk’s office only allowing votes cast on Election Day to be used in the logic and accuracy test.
The 16-year incumbent also argues that two ballots were improperly counted. In her affidavit, Arnold says that two votes that the vote-counting machine could not read were not allowed to be duplicated and added to the count to be properly read.
Further, Arnold said the clerk’s office did not properly handle invalid absentee ballots to allow voters to come in and “fix” their ballot so it could be counted.
In a statement released Tuesday, Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane said the goal for election officials was to make sure every vote was counted and the results were accurate.
“That’s what the recount process is for,” McGrane’s statement said. “We’ve worked closely with the candidates to ensure all aspects of our process are transparent and open for review. We will cooperate fully with the courts and any decisions regarding the appeal.
“I can’t express enough appreciation for Prosecutor Jan Bennetts and how she oversaw the recount process,” he continued. “She conferred with the candidates and ensured that we followed the letter of the law throughout the entire process. With a historically thin margin of .0049% (or 2 out of 40,882 ballots cast) in this race, even the smallest variances seem to have an outsized impact.”
