Dexter Miller, the Democratic candidate for the 62nd House of Representatives in Delta, Arkansas, said Friday that he called for a recount after the election results showed he lost by 618 votes to Republican Rep. Mark McElroy.
The recount is scheduled for Monday at 9:00 a.m., Miller said.
According to the Secretary of State’s website, the unofficial returns reported by five of the six divisions were:
McElroy 2,016
Mirror 1,398
Arkansas law allows candidates dissatisfied with returns from any precinct to request a recount before the results are certified.
Those who request a recount must pay it. If the election results change, the requester will be refunded.
The district includes parts of Phillips and Lee, Desha, Arkansas, and Monroe counties. Phillips County is the only county with no data on the Secretary of State’s website about racing.
Miller believes that hand-counted ballots were not counted correctly while the machines were down in Phillips County.
“I believe the same thing about absentee ballots,” he said.
Multiple government officials have expressed concern over the pace and communications from Phillips County as political candidates had to figure out the election results themselves.
Last month, the state board of elections decided to send election observers to Lee and Phillips counties upon request, said Board Director Daniel Schultz.
The monitor remained in Phillips County until November 10, Schultz said. This was due to several issues, including ballots printed in a way that election machines could not scan.
From his staff’s observations, the delay in reporting has nothing to do with fraud or vote tampering issues, but with the county not uploading information.
