Elections officials in Lane County are re-tallying votes from the May primary. Both East Lane and West Lane County Commissioner races were so close that the Secretary of State said recounts are necessary.
According to Oregon statute, an automatic recount is required when the difference in the number of votes for the apparently winning candidate and their closest opponent is not more than one fifth of one percent of the total votes for both candidates. In the East Lane County Commissioner Race, Incumbent Faye Stewart had 50.05 percent of the vote. In the West Lane Race, incumbent Jay Bozievich had 50.12 percent. Lane County's Anne Marie Levis says the recounts are conducted by five teams of four over two days.
"These are seasoned elections officials who have done this before. We do an actual hand count of the ballots in the recount. We have representatives from both parties doing the recount so there's no imbalance there and what they do is recount the ballots twice."
The results of the recounts will be released Thursday.
A runoff election in November is possible in the East Lane race between Faye Stewart and his closest challenger Kevin Matthews. It's less likely for the West Lane seat where Dawn Lesley challenged Jay Bozievich.