Clerks vow impartial Ky. recanvass

One of the closest votes for statewide office in Kentucky history will be reviewed by officials who have taken sides in the election, at least locally.

But those county clerks involved say their preference for who wins the state's Republican gubernatorial nominations will not affect how they handle their part in the statewide recanvass of the Election Day results that have Louisville businessman Matt Bevin leading Agriculture Commissioner James Comer by a mere 83 votes out of nearly 215,000 ballots cast.

"Who we support will absolutely not have anything to do with how we do our jobs," said Boone County Clerk Kenny Brown, who endorsed Bevin early in the race. "The system is designed as such. Besides, this is a partisan office so we are allowed to take sides in our private life.

"I feel it's safe to say all three of us and all the clerks in all the counties will do their jobs professionally."

The recanvass begins at 9 a.m. Thursday across all 120 counties in Kentucky and should conclude by the end of the day. It will not officially change the results, but could perhaps turn up any discrepancies. The clerks from all 120 counties will ensure all of their voting machines were counted in the final tally turned into the secretary of state's office, as well as make sure that those tallies were added correctly.

If any miscounts or discrepancies are uncovered, the Comer campaign has the right to petition a judge in Franklin County for an official recount. That would entail opening the machines and recounting individual ballots by hand, and would be paid for by the Comer campaign.

Without a recount, the state Board of Elections will meet on June 8 to certify the results and make them official.

Whoever is declared the official winner will square off against Democratic nominee and Attorney General Jack Conway in the November general election. The clerks will also be doing a recanvass of the Republican primary results for agriculture commissioner, where state Rep. Ryan Quarles, R-Georgetown, holds a lead of 1,427 votes over state Rep. Richard Heath, R-Mayfield.

"To be honest, I don't think we're going to find anything from the recanvass," said Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe, who donated $400 to the Comer campaign and appeared on a campaign flier supporting Comer and his running mate, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill. "My numbers should not change at all.

As for her backing of Comer, Summe said that "as a citizen, I should not lose the right to support candidates. We keep this office incredibly neutral, and we are open and forthcoming about all the information and processes."

The three clerks will be checking on a total of 470 machines through the three counties, including 214 in Kenton County alone. Bevin won all three counties convincingly, taking more than 50 percent of the vote in Boone and Campbell counties, and nearly 50 percent in Kenton County. All three clerks say that the vast majority of voters in Northern Kentucky still prefer filling out a paper ballot that resembles a standardized test. Those ballots are then fed into voting machines to be counted. (Each precinct does also have a fully-electronic machine for use by disabled voters or others who want to use it, but they are seldom utilized, the clerks say.)

Those paper ballots would only be retrieved from the machines and recounted by hand if Comer is allowed a full recount.

Both Summe and Brown have undergone recanvasses both locally and statewide in recent years, with Brown overseeing a recount in the 2010 Republican primary for judge-executive after incumbent Gary Moore beat challenger Cathy Flaig by 74 votes out of 12,000 ballots cast. But Flaig called it off a few hours into the recount as no differences were uncovered.

There was also a recanvass called for in the 2011 Republican primary for secretary of state.

But this will be the first such experience for Campbell County Clerk Jim Luersen, a Republican who took office in January. He declined to support any candidate for governor, saying "as a clerk, I'd rather not get involved in races ... especially since I am conducting elections. Lord knows I was asked enough times by all of them."

"I have all the respect for Kenny and Gabe, but I guess I just have a different philosophy," Luersen said.

Luersen added that he is not worried about his personal lack of experience with either a recanvass or recount.

"It is a learning experience for me to be sure, but we have good people in the office who have been through all this before so we will be all right," Luersen said.