On Tuesday, Aug. 14, Van Buren Township Supervisor Paul White filed a petition for a recount of the votes for supervisor in the Aug. 7 Primary Election.
White, who was running for re-election, lost by 50 votes to challenger Linda Combs, according to the election tally.
On Tuesday morning he filed the petition and paid the required $10 per precinct for 11 precincts, a total of $110.
White has requested a count of all the ballots, including all the walk-in and absentee voters in all precincts.
White said the number of absentee voter ballots returned to the Clerk’s office is greater than the number of absentee voter ballots counted.
He told the Independent that 1,667 AV ballots were returned to the Clerk’s office. When scanned electronically, 521 did not register anything for the Supervisor position.
The total of the votes for the four candidates for supervisor, plus 12 write-in votes, totaled 3,059. Total ballots cast were reported at 4,382, with 1,667 of those absentee ballots.
Also, White states in his petition that an electronic counting system was used for the first time in VBT’s Aug. 7 election, allocating absentee voter totals to each individual precinct instead of in a separate category, as in the past.
On Tuesday afternoon, VBT Clerk Leon Wright affirmed that White has filed for a recount.
Clerk Wright said VBT completed its canvass last Thursday and Wayne County is still canvassing all the elections in the county and has until Aug. 21 to complete the canvass.
Barring a state recount that could delay the process, Wright said after Aug. 21 the county will schedule a recount of the VBT votes, as requested by White. The county will conduct the recount.
Sumpter Township
In Sumpter Township, Vincent Warren, who lost his bid to unseat incumbent Supervisor Johnny Vawters by 661 votes, announced he will be running a write-in campaign for the post in the Nov. 6 General Election.
Write-in candidates have until 4 p.m., Oct. 26 to file a Declaration of Intent form for the general election.