Recount confirms Hall as winner over Githens in state house District 62

Room 404 at the Indiana state house, where the recount commission met on Dec. 20, 2022.

From left: Left to right: Bradley King, co-counsel for the recount commission; Republican Party appointee Mark Wynn; secretary of state Holli Sullivan; Democratic Party appointee Michael Claytor; and Mathew Kochevar, co-counsel for the recount commission.

Recount commission co-counsel Matthew Kochevar.

Democratic Party appointee to the recount commission Michael Claytor holds aloft a ballot for review.

Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry.

Samantha Dewester, legal counsel for Dave Hall

Secretary of state Holli Sullivan.

Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry (standing) with Penny Githens.

Indiana state police first sergeant Brad Stille shows there’s nothing left in the ballot envelope that he just sliced open.

Indiana state police first sergeant Brad Stille hands over the ballot envelopes to general counsel for the state board of accounts, Kendra Leatherman.

Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Indiana’s recount commission confirmed Republican Dave Hall as the winner of the election for District 62 state house over Democrat Penny Githens.

The final recounted tally was:

Penny Githens (D): 12,963
Dave Hall (R): 13,037

That’s a plurality of 74 for Hall.

The original tally was:

Penny Githens (D): 12,950
Dave Hall (R): 12,990

That was a plurality of 40 for Hall.

This brief has been updated with more detail below. Continue reading “Recount confirms Hall as winner over Githens in state house District 62” →

Manual recounting of ballots completed for District 62 state house, final results next week

Recount director Philip Sicuso (Dec. 14, 2022)

From left: Dee Owens, watcher for Penny Githens, and SBOA chief of staff Jennifer Gauger. (Dec. 14, 2022)

From left: Monroe County election board member Donovan Garletts, Monroe County election supervisor Karen Wheeler, and Jackson County clerk-elect Amanda Lowery. (Dec. 14, 2022)

(Dec. 14, 2022)

From left: Penny Githens, Dee Owens, and Susan Luther. (Dec. 14, 2022)

Election Central in Monroe County at 7th and Madison streets in Bloomington. (Dec. 14, 2022)

Recount activity in Monroe County at Election Central. (Dec. 14, 2022)

By around 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, the recounting activity in Monroe County for the District 62 state house race between Republican Dave Hall and Democrat Penny Githens was completed.

That wrapped up the recounting for all of District 62, which also includes precincts in Brown and Jackson counties.

Recounting in Monroe County took place at Election Central in the old Johnson’s Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets.

The results of the recount won’t be finalized until the state recount commission meets next week.

The final certified tally of votes, before the recount, gave Hall 12,990 votes, which was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens received.

Recount director Philip Sicuso told The B Square that the meeting has not yet been noticed to the public, but the recount commission plans to convene at 9 a.m. next Tuesday (Dec. 20) at the statehouse in Indianapolis. That’s the deadline for completion of the recount. Continue reading “Manual recounting of ballots completed for District 62 state house, final results next week” →

District 62 state house election update: Manual recounting of ballots now underway

(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)

Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry points to candidate Penny Githens’s computer screen as they review challenged ballots from Jackson and Brown counties.

Deputy recount director Andrew Norris. (Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)

(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)

The slogan on the mug reads: “I am an auditor. To save time let’s just assume I’m always right.” (Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)

Arriving around 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Monroe County’s Election Central, was the team from Indiana’s state board of accounts (SBOA) that is conducting the manual recounting of ballots in Indiana’s District 62 state house race.

The race was won by Republican Dave Hall, who had a certified tally of 12,990 votes. That was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens received. The request for the recount was filed by Monroe County Party chair David Henry.

The recounting of Monroe County’s ballots got a good start on Tuesday, but will last at least another day.

Recounting activity on Tuesday lasted until around 6 p.m. The work of reviewing each paper ballot with human hands and eyeballs will continue on Wednesday morning in Monroe County starting around 8 a.m.

In Monroe County, the recount work is not expected to be completed until Thursday morning. But there’s an outside chance the work could wrap up by late Wednesday, according to deputy recount director Andrew Norris. Continue reading “District 62 state house election update: Manual recounting of ballots now underway” →

Recount for 40-vote margin: Monroe County Dems to ask for hand re-tally in Hall-Githens District 62 race

The Monroe County Democratic Party will petition the Indiana state election division for a recount of votes in the state house representative District 62 race, which was won by Republican Dave Hall over Democrat Penny Githens.

Left: Penny Githens (D). Right: Dave Hall (R). In these photos, they were giving stump speeches at a candidate event hosted by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce held on Oct. 3, 2022.

That’s according to a news release issued by the MCDP on Monday morning.

The news release cites the 40-vote margin as the reason for the recount request.

MCDP chair David Henry is quoted in the release saying, “In such extremely close races, a recount is simply about exercising our candidate’s rights under the law, and crossing every t, and dotting every i.”

The procedure for election recounts in the state of Indiana is spelled out in three places: state election law; the state recount commission’s recount procedure manual; and the procedures manual for the state board of accounts.

Under state law, the deadline for a county party to petition for a recount is 17 days after the election, which translates this year to Monday (Nov. 28), due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Barring botched paperwork or failure to hit deadlines, state law indicates that the state recount commission has to order a recount. Continue reading “Recount for 40-vote margin: Monroe County Dems to ask for hand re-tally in Hall-Githens District 62 race” →