Recount confirms Bailey’s win

Difference amounts to 8 votes

By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

A recount of the Nov. 4 Johnson County Precinct 1 race, which took two days to conduct, confirmed Republican candidate Rick Bailey’s victory over Democratic incumbent, Commissioner R.C. McFall.

McFall filed for a hand recount of the ballots on Nov. 18. McFall, a 15-year incumbent, lost to Bailey by 588 votes in the initial count conducted election night. The recount resulted in Bailey’s favor by a margin of 580 votes, with Bailey losing six votes and McFall gaining two.

When he filed for the recount, McFall said he didn’t expect the result to change, but he filed at the urging of supporters, several of whom signed a petition, and for his own peace of mind. McFall paid the costs of the recount.

“Since the preliminary election numbers have been posted, I have been overrun by citizens who are questioning the accuracy and programming of the vote counting machines,” McFall said at the time. “After thoughtful consideration and prayer, I began to check into these concerns and have not been able to get a good idea as to whether or not the counting machines were properly tested. In order to put these questions to rest, I have asked for a manual recount of the votes in my election.”

In the days after the election, several people suggested that McFall fell victim to straight-ticket voting because Johnson County voters overwhelmingly voted for presidential candidate John McCain. They claim that many who had voted split ticket in the past either forgot or chose not to this time.

Others suggested that voters may have voted straight ticket but also marked McFall. They believe the vote for McFall might not have been counted.

Voting that way would still result in the votes being properly counted, said Johnson County Elections Administrator Patty Bourgeois shortly after the election.

The elections office tested the voting machines three times using all applicable ballot formats to meet Texas Election Code requirements, Bourgeois said.

Bailey called the recount a learning experience for everyone involved after final recount numbers were determined.

“It’s a great process,” Bailey said. “And it just goes to show that the system does work to have the count that close with over 50,000 votes cast in Johnson County.”

The recount should “shoot down” the stereotype of straight ticket voting, Bailey said, adding that those voters who voted split ticket on his and McFall’s side, had their votes properly recorded.

“My hats off to everyone who participated in the recount, and the voters themselves,” Bailey said.

McFall also thanked all involved and called the recount hard work and “no easy deal.”

“I said from the start I didn’t think it would change much,” McFall said. “But this takes the cloud of it and upholds the integrity of the election by clearing any doubts anyone had.

“It’s like I said from the start, I think a lot of people just voted straight Republican.”

McFall said he’s talked to Bailey and offered to help him anyway he can as he prepares to take office.

Bourgeois called the recount a good thing for Johnson County voters.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Bourgeois said. “But it’s also a good thing because it shows people that the 650 [voting machine used] is accurate and that it does record people’s votes correctly even if they vote straight ticket and then tick another candidate’s name.”

About 30 county and party workers, both Democrat and Republican, conducted the hand recount, which ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and resumed 8 a.m. Tuesday until about 2:30 p.m.

Because only those residents residing in Precinct 1 were eligible to vote in the race, workers had to sort through more than 50,000 ballots to separate the applicable ones. That sorting, which included about 33,000 early vote ballots, took all of Monday to complete, Bourgeois said, leaving workers with 11,552 ballots to count Tuesday, she said.

Workers ran into a hitch mid-day Tuesday when someone realized a portion of the Precinct 23 ballots had not been counted, said Bailey, who spent most of Tuesday at the courthouse awaiting results.

McFall will step down Dec. 31, leaving Bailey to take office Jan. 1.