A status hearing Wednesday in Christian Circuit Court did not determine which city council candidate should be declared the winner in the Ward 7 primary race between Republicans Mark Graham and Doug Wilcox.
Judge John Atkins agreed to consolidate two recount petitions — previously filed on behalf of Graham and County Clerk Mike Kem — and he scheduled the next hearing for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 7.
“I want to expedite this,” the judge said.
Along with the recount petitions, Atkins will consider a new motion filed by attorney James Adams III, who represents Wilcox. It says the court should dismiss Graham’s petition for a recount and argues that there’s already sufficient evidence to show that Wilcox won the race.
Graham’s attorney, Ben Fletcher, didn’t comment on the Wilcox motion because it was filed just prior to the start of Wednesday’s hearing.
The election dispute stems from an error discovered around midday of the May 17 primary. Because of a software error, 109 voters who reside in Ward 8 were incorrectly given ballots that allowed them to vote in the Ward 7 Republican council race, Kem has said.
There were 369 ballots cast in the race, and Wilcox edged Graham by one vote in the final tally of 185 to 184. However, that outcome included the 109 ballots that shouldn’t be counted because they were cast by Ward 8 residents.
Ward 7 is comprised of precincts E104 and G101, and a portion of precinct G104.
In his motion, Adams said the problem was in G104, which is a split precinct that includes a portion of Ward 7 and Ward 8.
All 109 of the incorrect ballots were purportedly from precinct G104.
Based on information the county clerk’s office provided in response to an open records request, Adams outlined the following vote totals in the three precincts:
- Precinct E104 (Holiday Park, Southgate Drive, Poston Chapel Road) — Graham, 53; Wilcox, 32
- Precinct G101 (Hunting Creek, Givens Addition north of Little River, Eagle Cove) — Graham, 33; Wilcox, 106
- Precinct G104 (Givens Addition south of Little River, South Fork Place off Lovers Lane) — Graham, 98; Wilcox, 47
A total of 145 votes were cast in G104 — but with 109 ineligible ballots, that means only 36 ballots were cast by eligible voters, the motion argues.
“After those 109 votes are discarded and assuming that all remaining 36 votes in G104 were cast in Mr. Graham’s favor, Mr. Wilcox still would have won the election by 16 votes,” the motion states. “In this instance, it is shown that Mr. Graham actually benefitted from the 109 ineligible votes cast and, therefore, there is no basis for this Court to interfere with the will of the eligible voters …”
Prior to the hearing on June 7, attorneys for the two candidates and Kem, who is represented by County Attorney John T. Soyars, are expected to inspect the ballots, voting machines and other election materials from the Ward 7 race — which are stored in a locked room in the basement of the Christian County Justice Center.
“The sheriff even took the precaution of having bailiffs stay here over the weekend to make sure that nothing happened to the ballots,” Atkins said.
During the hearing, Atkins directed Sheriff Tyler DeArmond to be present, along with at least two members of the Christian County Board of Elections, during the inspection.
“I think we’re all operating on good faith and I don’t anticipate there being allegations of wrongdoing at this point,” the judge said.
He also directed Soyars to submit the voter check-in registry with the names redacted to protect the privacy of voters.
If a recount of the votes is conducted, that could occur on Tuesday.
“Frankly … if we reach a point where we have an understanding about how to proceed, if we need to recount the votes we can recount them that day,” the judge said.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
