A three-judge panel declared Jackie Ingram the winner in the Nov. 5 Mathews County Board of Supervisors election after a recount on Friday that lasted all day. She was sworn in on Monday during a brief ceremony in Mathews County Circuit Court.
Votes for Ingram and incumbent supervisor G.C. Morrow were tallied by hand during the recount, with Ingram gaining three votes and Morrow one vote in the Westville District, while Ingram lost one vote and Morrow gained two in the Piankatank District. Morrow also gained a vote in the Chesapeake District. In the end, Ingram still led by four votes, with 1,465 votes to Morrow’s 1,461.
Problems with one of the voting machines led to officials being unable to determine whether two ballots had been counted. The ballots got stuck in the machine and were torn, said Mathews County Registrar Carla Faulkner, but when officials opened the machine with the judges’ consent to try to determine which ballots had caused the jam, they couldn’t.
Virginia Circuit Court Chief Judge B. Elliott Bondurant examined the machine, as well, but concluded that there was no way to determine which ballots were involved, since ballots fall into that type of machine’s internal reservoir in random fashion. The judges did not order additional counting.
The recount was overseen by Bondurant and circuit court judges Steven C. McCallum and Richard S. Wallerstein Jr. It was coordinated by Mathews Electoral Board chair Josie Thorpe and vice chairman Jeff Bohn, with Faulkner and Assistant Registrar Robyn Beasley on hand to lend assistance as needed. Samantha Buckley of the Virginia Department of Elections was also present as an observer.
The actual ballot counting was done by eight election officials, four of whom were chosen by Morrow and four by Ingram. Each official was paired with an official chosen by the opposing candidate. Officials and the districts they counted were: Nelson Buchanan and Janice Phillips, Chesapeake; John Bonner and Lisa Burns Brown, Piankatank; Cathy Williams and Marti Bowen, Westville; and Chris Bridge and Pat Hudgins, Central Absentee.
The recount was overseen by eight observers, four chosen by Morrow and four by Ingram. Each of the candidates acted as one of their four observers. Other observers for Morrow were Carol Bova, George Jones and Mike Walls. Observing for Ingram were Michael Schramm, Jessica Christensen and Dee Russell.
The officials worked diligently throughout the day to complete the recount. On occasion, a coordinator would ask an observer to move back because they were too close. About a half dozen residents who were not part of the recount were present in the courtroom throughout the day, but were restricted from the recount area.
Faulkner said that, apart from the ballots that got stuck in the machine, she couldn’t explain exactly why the tally at the end of the recount was slightly different from the election day results, but she suspected it was because a few people didn’t adequately mark the boxes on the ballot. She said she always instructs voters to fill in the box next to their candidate’s name completely, but that some voters choose to use an x or a check mark instead.
An example Faulkner gave for an inadequate mark was a check mark in which only a small portion of the short end of the check mark actually falls within the box. While such marks may not be picked up by the machine, she said, they are clearly visible to an observer. As long as the voter’s intent is clear, she said, the vote is counted in a hand count, even if the machine didn’t pick it up.
Training for the election officials was conducted by Faulkner beginning at 8 a.m., and the machines were booted up at 9 a.m. Judge Bondurant pronounced Ingram the winner shortly after 4:30 p.m., when the final votes were tallied. Morrow shook Ingram’s hand and congratulated her.
Ingram said that the process had been difficult at times.
“But I look forward to working for Mathews County for all our citizens and doing the best job I can,” she said.