Board of Elections Chairman Arturo Watlington Jr., in response to a letter from Senator-At-Large Brian Smith requesting a manual recount of the At-Large race in the recent Democratic Primary, said the request was disrespectful and an insult to voters.
“Personally, I believe your letter is ridiculous and inconsistent with the section of law that deals with recounts, Title 18, Chapter 23, Section 629,” Mr. Watlington wrote. Even so, he told Mr. Smith that he could attend an upcoming meeting scheduled for Monday at 1:30 p.m.
In the letter to the board, Mr. Smith cited what he said were irregularities with the results. “I am respectfully requesting a manual recount of the votes for the Senator-At-Large race,” he wrote. The senator listed the following as cause for the recount request:
- The margin of victory was extremely great
- The winner of the race received more votes that the winner of the gubernatorial race
- The percentages of the votes received by all candidates were almost identical territory-wide
“Finally, it is worth noting that this situation is an irregular statistical probability, as such a thorough investigation is warranted,” Mr. Smith wrote.
But Mr. Watlington was not having it, and took one more swipe at the senator’s request: “Further, I believe that your request is an insult to those persons who elected you and those persons who participated in the Democratic 2018 Primary Election.”
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