Recanvass yields same result: Hesselbrock takes clerk's race by three votes

A recanvass in the race for Spencer County Clerk on Thursday morning yielded the same result as the vote tally last Tuesday night: Republican Lynn Hesselbrock defeated Democrat Abbigail Nation by three votes — 4,144 to 4,141.

Lynette Mason

Spencer County Clerk incumbent Lynn Hesselbrock speaks with supporters following the reading of the unofficial results. She is pictured by Spencer County Sheriff and election board member Donald ‘Buddy’ Stump.

Buy this photo

Shannon Brock

Abbigail Nation keeps up with the vote tally and is surrounded by friends and family.

Buy this photo

The Spencer County Board of Elections met at 9 a.m. Thursday morning to conduct the recanvass, which compared the recapitulation sheet from Tuesday night to the print outs from each of the voting machines.
Hesselbrock, who, as county clerk, is on the Board of Elections, sat at one end of the table, with Nation at the other end, while Belinda Snider, the Democrat representative on the board of elections, called off the printout numbers and Steve Hesselbrock, the Republican representative on the board, double-checked the numbers being called.
Sheriff Donald “Buddy” Stump, who, as sheriff, is on the board of elections, and Sherrie Coulter, the chief deputy in the county clerk’s office, verified that those numbers matched those on the recapitulation sheet, then added all those numbers together, which produced the same result — Hesselbrock over Nation by three votes — as Tuesday night.
County Attorney Ruth Hollan was present and kept up with the numbers during the recanvass, and several members of the media and general public were also present.
After the three-vote margin was tallied for a second time, Snider asked Nation if she was satisfied with the process of the recanvass.
“I’m not satisified, but I know you all did all you could do,” Nation said, expressing her overall disappointment with the results.
Hesselbrock said the vote count from the county clerk’s race was to be certified in her office on Thursday and submitted to the state. The results of the other elections on the ballot were to be certified by noon Friday, she said.
Nation has not indicated whether she will request a recount. Compared to a recanvass, a recount is a lengthier process, which is filed in Circuit Court.
According to KRS 120.185, “If a request for a recount is made, the State Board of Elections or the county board of elections, whichever would issue the certificate of election shall be made a party defendant. The party requesting the recount shall execute bond with approved surety for the costs of the recount, in an amount to be fixed by the Circuit Judge. Upon the bond being filed, the clerk shall immediately notify the Circuit Judge of the request and the filing of the bond, and the judge shall at once enter an order directing the voting machines, ballots, boxes, and all papers pertaining to the election to be transferred to the Circuit Court, and fix a day for the recount proceedings to begin.”
Hesselbrock was elected to serve out the remainder of the term left when former Clerk Judy Puckett retired. That term expires at the end of 2014.