Post-election audits have consistently shown that Oklahoma’s voting devices accurately count ballots, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said July 17. Proof of that statement was reinforced in the mid-July audit of the June 16 election results in Comanche County and elsewhere in Southwest Oklahoma, where no mistakes were found.
In Comanche County Precinct 160001, for example, 222 ballots were counted manually in the state Senate District 32 Republican primary election. The certified results and the audit results of that precinct were identical: Jean Hausheer, 113; incumbent Dusty Deevers, 67; and Curtis W. Erwin, 42.
Similarly, in the Democratic primary race for congressional District 4, a manual count of the ballots confirmed Mitchell Jacob edged past Jeff Pixley in Precinct 160050 by one vote: 81-80.
The manual tally in Comanche County Precinct 160040 in the Republican governor’s primary contest also found no change in the certified results compared to the audit results: Chip Keating, 94; Gentner Drummond, 92; Charles McCall, 72; Jake A. Merrick, 46; Mike Mazzei, 43; Leisa Mitchell Haynes, 4; Jennifer Domenico and Kenneth Sturgell, 2 each; and Calup Anthony Taylor, 1.
A manual count of ballots cast in Precinct 160049 in the Republican lieutenant governor’s race also produced no change. Lawton native T.W. Shannon received 153 votes, more than the total for all five other contenders: Darrell Weaver, 51; David Ostrowe, 23; Justin “JJ” Humphrey, 15; Brian Hill, 8; and H. Victor Flores, 1.
Cotton County
Manual counts of ballots cast in three precincts in three races in Cotton County found zero errors.
David Edgmon eased past incumbent District 1 County Commissioner John Anderson in Precinct 170001 by four votes, 26-22 (and went on to defeat him by 60 votes, 183-123). Cotton County was one of 16 counties in Oklahoma that manually audited primary elections for county commissioner.
A manual count of votes cast in Precinct 170011 in the four-way contest for district judge, district 5, office 1, found no errors: Steven W. Crow, 64; Neil West, 55; Tommy Sims, 21; and Christine Galbraith, 20. Cotton also was the only county in the state that audited a district judge election, according to the State Election Board.
In the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, T.W. Shannon received 84 votes in Precinct 170003. The five other candidates received 87 votes combined: Darrell Weaver, 53; David Ostrowe, 15; Brian Hill, 10; Justin “JJ” Humphrey, 6; and H. Victor Flores, 3.
Stephens County
In Stephens County, votes cast in three political contests during the statewide primary election June 16 were manually counted in mid-July in post-election audits, and no errors were detected.
In the Republican race to fill the county assessor’s vacancy created by the retirement of Dana Buchanan, MacKenzie Payne edged Chris Billings in Precinct 690001 by six votes: 152-146. Payne won that election, receiving 51.39% of the 5,657 votes cast in that race.
Stephens County was one of five in the state that audited results from primary elections for county assessor.
An audit of the 111 ballots cast by absentee mail in the Republican governor’s race found no changes: Gentner Drummond led with 32 votes, followed by Chip Keating, 20; Charles Mc-Call, 19; Mike Mazzei, 16; Jake A. Merrick, 13; Jennifer Domenico, 4; Calup Anthony Taylor, 3; Kenneth Sturgell and Leisa Mitchell Haynes, 2 apiece.
Also audited were the results from Precincts 690056 and 690057 in the Republican primary for governor, and again, zero errors were found.
Two other precincts, 690014 and 690032, were audited for the results in the Democratic primary for U.S. Representative District 4. The electronic counts were confirmed in the manual counts in both precincts.
Tillman County
A manual count of ballots cast electronically in early voting in the Republican primary for state Senate District 38, which encompasses portions of seven counties, found zero mistakes: Rick Vernon, 73; Joe B. Buchanan, 41; and Barry Dwaine Christian, 2. Incumbent Brent Howard of Altus, who has a law practice and is a farmer/ rancher, did not file for reelection.
No errors were found in the early voting on Republican candidates for attorney general: Jon Echols, 63; and Jeff Starling, 52.
In the Republican primary for Corporation Commissioner, Brad Boles received 100 votes to 38 for Justin Hornback in Precinct 710001. The manual audit confirmed the certified election results.
Jackson County
In Precinct 330006, Rick Vernon trounced his two other Republican contenders for state Senate District 38. He captured 133 votes to 76 for Joe B. Buchanan and 7 for Barry Dwaine Christian. The manual audit confirmed the electronic vote in that race.
Manual audits of votes cast in Precincts 330003 and 330006 in the five-way Democratic primary for U.S. senator found no changes. N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas led both precincts and Jim Priest ran a distant second, but he forced an Aug. 25 runoff.
The certified results in the Republican primary election June 16 for lieutenant governor were confirmed in the mid-July audit of Precinct 330017: T.W. Shannon, 54; Darrell Weaver, 25; David Ostrowe, 17; Justin “JJ” Humphrey, 9; Brian Hill, 8; and H. Victor Flores, 1.
Kiowa County
Manual recounts of electronic results from three races found no changes.
In early voting in the Republican primary in state Senate District 38, Rick Vernon got 56 votes; Joe B. Buchanan, 38; and Barry Dwaine Christian, 9.
In the Republican primary for attorney general, Jeff Starling received 78 votes in Precinct 380001 to 72 votes for eventual winner Jon Echols.
In the Democratic primary for governor, Cyndi Munson outdistanced two challengers, Connie Johnson and Arya, in Precincts 38004 and 380022 en route to earning the nomination with an overwhelming 75% of the vote.
Harmon County
Manual counts of electronic tallies June 16 from three political races were all found to be accurate in post-election audits performed in mid-July.
In early voting in the Republican primary for state Senate District 38, Rick Vernon received 25 votes, to 11 for Joe B. Buchanan and 1 for Barry Dwaine Christian.
In the Republican primary for the attorney general’s nomination, Jon Echols received 42 votes and Jeff Starling received 40 in Precinct 290102.
In the Republican primary for Corporation Commissioner, Brad Boles garnered more votes than Justin Hornback did in Precincts 290201 and 290302. Statewide, Boles won the Republican nomination and will face Democrat Rhonda Eastman in the Nov. 3 general election.