A recount of District 2 seats on the East Chicago City Board of Education will take place Friday in response to a petition filed by Anton Williams challenging the November election results.
Williams lost the election by 16 votes in a three-way contest. Pattie Jo Gibson-King won the election with her 503 votes against her 487 votes for Williams. Her third nominee, Wanda Vilma Cavazos, got her 486 votes.
Election Commission Director Michelle Faziman said the recount will cover five East Chicago precincts (13, 17, 25, 28, and 31), and the Lake County Government Center poll will be held at 11 a.m. Friday. Said to be done in the machine garage.
Faziman said the recount will primarily address absentee ballots. The machine tally of votes cast on Election Day will not be changed.
There were 68 paper absentee ballots and 77 walk-in absentee ballots in the 13th precinct, according to the Election Commission website. 32 paper absentee ballots and 89 walk-in absentee ballots in District 17; 23 paper absentee ballots and 90 walk-in absentee ballots in District 25. Paper absentee ballots received 36 votes and 182 votes in District 28. 20 paper absentee ballots and 128 walk-in absentee ballots in District 31;
Faziman said Williams petitioned for the recount, so he would have to pay the costs. Williams filed a $100 fee bond with the court.
The recount committee is made up of one Democrat and one Republican from the affected district. A third member, she said, is an election mechanic familiar with the machine.
Fajman said he does not expect the recount to take more than a day, but said the committee could reconvene if necessary. If any changes are discovered, it will be reported to the court and the official results will be changed. The deadline for filing information with the court is Wednesday.
“I have never seen a recount change the outcome of an election,” Faziman said. The final recount was after the May primary election, when Lake County Councilman Christian Jorgensen challenged Cedar’s defeat by Niemeyer to Randy, who was chairman of the Lake’s Town Council. It happened when Jorgensen got his 1,652 votes and Niemeyer his 2,974. Fajman said the recount did not change the results.
Williams was not immediately reachable for comment on Wednesday.
