FINAL

Results:

Lukes – 7507

Rushton – 7391

Mechanical Help

A big deal was made at he beginning of the day that there would be no mechanical help—no calculators, computers or laptops to help with counting. Apparently that rule no longer counts. With the accountants’ tabulation the only remaining hurdle to getting this thing done, city solicitor david moore just brought in an adding machine that will be used for…something, possibly to do a final check when all is done. Again, as of 5:20, there are still about 30 precincts left to be officially confirmed by the accountants, but all expectations in the room(including from Rushtons camp) are that the day belongs to Lukes.

For all intents and purposes, the recount is over and Konnie Lukes will be the mayor for the next two years.

The End Game: Lukes victorious?

We’re about over: There was just the first drama of the day when David Rushford announced that the supply boxes were going to be opened to search for additional ballots–apparently there was a question of if a few had been put in the wrong box.

Rick Rushton’s lawyer said that if the margin was still 100 or so, he didn’t want to open them up and go through with it; he asked for the full tally to be certified before opening the other boxes.  Essentially: Don’t waste people’s time if we already know who won the recount.

Peter Lukes (on behalf of his mother) essentially said, ‘well, then we should have called it hours ago.’

It doesn’t look like any ballots are being found in the supply boxes–if they are, it won’t amount to more than 10 or 20 tops, sources downstairs say.

And, with Rushton’s counsel’s comments, it looks like this recount may soon be announced over in Lukes’ favor.

We’ll let you know.

By the numbers

The count is coming to an end soon–it looks like the ballots have all either been counted, or are in the process of being counted.

That said, there is a big delay between the count and getting the results posted on the board outside. Ward 1-10, Precinct 1 are the only things up officially.

That tally:

Lukes: 1653 Rushton: 1549

Old tally at this point:

Lukes: 1637  Rushton: 1538

So while both candidates are seeing additional votes, the margin is growing in Lukes’ favor.

How they rule

Earlier, we were asked in the comments to another post about how the Commissioners decide to rule on disputed ballots.

The Election Commissioners have a binder full of instructions, interpretations, and rulings in front of them. This is one such page:

The highly unofficial running tally

Don’t take this as anything more than WoMag’s highly unofficial tally based on posted results:

After Ward 2-8, Precinct 1′s reported:

Rick Rushton has picked up 7 votes from the initial count: 907 from 900.

Konnie Lukes has picked up 12 votes: 1024 from 1012.

The counters are on their lunch break; the tally stands at 1024-907.

Disputed ballot example

The first disputed ballot of the day(there have now been a few more).  As you can tell, the voter clearly marked Lukes for at-large, but only drew a mark under mayor.  Rushton’s counsel contended it should be a no-vote–a “stray mark.”  No word on the Election Commission’s final decision here, but a Rushton advisor just came out in the hallway to tell him that the commission had voted a “stray vote” ballot in Lukes’ favor.