Hand and machine recounts to be conducted Friday
By Kyle Troutman troutman@cassville-democrat.com
A recount of the Barry County Republican Primary Election race for sheriff will occur at 9 a.m. on Friday at the Barry County Courthouse.
James Morgan filed the petition for recount on Aug. 13 four days after the election results were made official on Aug. 9.
Incumbent Sheriff Danny Boyd, the petition’s respondent, was announced as the winner with 3,090 votes to Morgan’s 3,042, a margin of 0.72%. Because the margin is less than 1%, the election is subject to recount.
Morgan also alleges in the petition that in at least one precinct, Wheaton, there were irregularities regarding how the voting machine counted paper ballots versus the result of a hand count.
“Former Sheriff Mick Epperly witnessed the error,” the petition states. “As a result, at least one vote did not get submitted to the election authority.”
The petition triggered a hearing on Monday at 1 p.m. in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Alan Blankenship, who serves Stone County in the 39th District (Barry, Lawrence and Stone counties). Court documents show Morgan is represented by Attorney Blake Fields, and Boyd is represented by Attorney Michael Riehn.
Blankenship ordered a recount by machine and a recount by hand. County Clerk Joyce Ennis was directed to assemble an election verification team of four persons, two Republicans and two Democrats, and the recount will take place in the Commission room at the Historic Barry County Courthouse in Cassville.
Morgan and Boyd are each allowed one observer at the recount, and Morgan was directed to pay a $4,000 cash bond with the court by Aug. 21 to secure payment of required costs. Should costs exceed $4,000, Morgan will be charged the extra amount, and he will be refunded any amount remaining if the recount costs less than the bond amount.
Ennis said the four-person verification is tentatively her absentee team.
“The court also looked at the poll workers list and asked for suggestions,” Ennis said. “I asked to use my absentee team, and we marked off a few individuals who were deemed too close to [the petitioner, the respondent or their attorneys]. The rest can be alternates.”
Ennis said as of about 2:15 p.m. Monday, two of the four absentee team members had confirmed availability, and she was waiting for returned calls from the other two.
Ennis said she expected the recount to take about 4-6 hours on Friday, hoping to have the process completed in one day.
