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It was close - very close.
The May 4 primary election saw incumbent Warsaw Councilman At-Large Dewey Lawshe defeated for the Republican nomination by only nine votes. Now, he wants to ensure the counting of those votes was accurate.
"It was a close race - decided by only nine votes. Mr. Lawshe felt it was the most fair to all his supporters that the vote count be verified," said James Masters, the South Bend attorney who filed the recount petition Tuesday.
"We're not suggesting there were any improprieties with the election - that it wasn't conducted properly," he added. "It's just that we want to be absolutely sure the very close vote is, indeed, accurate."
Masters added the recount, which is expected to take four to six weeks to complete, requires that all voting cards be hand verified and counted.
"Computers are known to make mistakes," he said.
Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed will oversee the recount process.
He will appoint a three-member recount commission, which will actually conduct the tabulation of the voting cards. the county Democratic and Republican chairmen, Steve Haines and Mike Miner, will each appoint a member and Reed will select the third.
Lawshe was unavailable for comment.
