One of the four Republican candidates for Liberty County Pct. 1 commissioner has requested a recount of the ballots from the March 3 primary election in which candidates Bruce Karbowski and Toby Wilburn earned their places in the run-off election set for Saturday, May 26.
According to Ryan Daniel, chairman of the Liberty County Republican Party, he accepted a recount petition from candidate James Carson, citing that Carson is within his legal right to request a recount since he has 63 votes less than Wilburn, who had the second-highest number of votes in the primary – 675.
“The 63-vote difference from Mr. Carson begin in the May Republican run-off is within the 10 percent of the total vote that would trigger the option for a recount,” Daniel said. “There was no reason given as to why the recount [was requested] except that Mr. Carson has a legal right to do so and he wanted one.”
The rules for a recount request require a candidate to pay a deposit to cover the recount.
“Mr. Carson will have to pay for the recount if he loses, but if he is successful, he will receive his deposit back and will not pay for the recount. In my years of experience with recounts in Liberty County, there may have one or two votes’ difference from the certified results, if any,” Daniel said. “The most recent recount of a race involving the current optical scanners and paper ballots in Liberty County was a Dayton ISD board position race in May 2019 that was tied before the recount and tied after the recount.”
Daniel said he contacted the Texas Secretary of State’s office on Friday, March 13, because of the ongoing situation with the Coronavirus and was told that all election-related events are on schedule and that he was to proceed according to the statutory deadlines for a recount.
“I am currently looking for volunteers who would like to participate in this recount since over 6,000 early voting ballots need to be sorted by party affiliation. Then, after the sorting is done, a little over 2,500 ballots for the Pct. 1 commissioner’s race need to be hand counted. Most active members of the Liberty County Republican Party have worked this election in various capacities and are ineligible to serve as hand counters.”
Assisting in the recount is a paid position. Anyone who is interested should contact ryandanieltx@gmail.com.