Recount Could Start Thursday

From Martin Wisckol over at Total Buzz:

Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said he'll be meeting with Janet Nguyen's supervisorial campaign momentarily to get the official request for a recount and the parameters desired. Kelley said a partial recount could begin as early as Thursday. A complete recount would likely begin Friday or Tuesday (Monday is another county holiday), and would probably be done by the end of next week, Kelley said.

Kelley also corrected a statement I made here yesterday that the county has never had a recount of electronic ballots -- I've corrected that to say that it's never had a high-profile recount of those ballots. There's an automatic 1-percent recount each election to double check accuracy and Kelley also mentioned a partial recount in last year's Cypress city elections.

Comments

[One Who Knows]

I'm not sure what the ROV means by a "partial recount."

Elections Code Section 15632 states that "...the results of any recount which is not completed by counting the votes in each and every precinct in the jurisdiction within which votes were cast...shall be declared null and void."

It would appear, therefore, that a "partial recount" would be null and void.

[Martin Wisckol]

My understanding is that they can request just the absentee ballots to be counted. Or can they can start the recount -- as we've often seen -- focusing on one area they think might be favorable to them, and if it doesn't work out they can cancel the rest. If it does work out, they can proceed with other areas and continue as long as things are going their way. It seems obvious to me that they'd have to count all the precincts for the recount to be valid.

[Martin Wisckol]

UPDATE: One Who Knows is apparently right about all ballots needing to be counted to a valid recount. The issue being decided by Janet's campaign now is which ballots it will ask to be counted first. As I said above, recounts usually start out focusing on the ballots most likely to swing in favor of the challenger -- and the recounts are often called off midstream if those ballots don't go the right way.