Candidate asks for recount in District 4
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 11, 2015 1:50 AM
The Wayne County Board of Elections announced late Friday morning that a recount has been called for the District 4 Goldsboro City Council election.
District 4 candidate Tondalayo Clark -- who lost out on moving on to the Nov. 3 general election by two votes -- requested the recount through a two-sentence letter submitted to the Board of Elections on Oct. 8.
"I am requesting a recount of the results from the October 6, 2015, primary elections for Goldsboro City Council, District 4," she said in the letter. "Due to the close percentage margin and down by only two votes I want to ensure that the result is correct."
The recount for District 4 will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 13, immediately following the 11 a.m. canvass scheduled for the Oct. 6 primary election at the Board of Elections office at 209 S. William St.
Ms. Clark received 92 votes during the primary, while incumbent Charles Williams received 94. First-time candidate Bevan Foster received 154 votes.
Board of Elections Deputy Director Beverly York said the recount will be conducted by a tabulator and not completed by hand.
The law does not specify the method by which a recount must be conducted, she said, so the Board of Elections decided to use a tabulator.
There are six precincts that must be recounted that fall inside of District 4 -- Precincts 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 23. A total 340 votes were cast in the District 4 primary.
Precinct 16 consists of only one eligible voter who has never voted in city elections to the best of Board of Elections officials knowledge. He is the only voter in that precinct due to the way the city limits are drawn.
Prior to the recount following the 11 a.m. canvass, the board also will meet at 10 a.m. to count any remaining absentee ballots that were postmarked before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, as well as any provisional ballots.
There is only one absentee ballot to be counted, and three provisional ballots to be reviewed. These provisional ballots will be subsequently allowed or denied at the discretion of the board, based on whether or not the board feels they are legitimate and can be counted.
Mrs. York said the Board of Elections performed its state-mandated hand-to-eye counts of randomly selected precincts early Friday morning to ensure the numbers reported for the primary election were accurate and contained no discrepancies. After reviewing the ballots for Precincts 7 and 12, which were the two randomly selected precincts, the board found no change in the reported voting numbers.