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10% Hand Count in Close Races Overturned

A California appeals court has ruled that San Diego County’s Registrar of Voters does not have to manually count 10% of the vote in close races. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

10% Hand Count in Close Races Overturned

A California appeals court has ruled that San Diego County’s Registrar of Voters does not have to manually count 10% of the vote in close races. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

California’s Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, wants registrars to hand count 10% of the votes if election night results are closer than 1/2% apart.

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San Diego’s Registrar, Deborah Seiler, who challenged the ruling, says that could have been be very expensive.

Seiler: Let’s say we had three contests that were county wide, it would have been a lot.

Sieler says the vendors of the scanning machines that tally the votes were supposed to pay for the manual tally, but they have refused.

Kate Fomer of Secretary of State Debra’s Bowen’s office says Bowen is still concerned about how to make sure vote counts are checked in close races.

Fomer: Courts continue to agree that Deborah Bowen has the power to require manual tallies so the Secretary of State is reviewing her options.

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Registrars from Kern, Riverside and San Bernadino joined the San Diego Registrar to fight the Secretary of State’s mandate.

Alison St John, KPBS news .