A recount commission has been appointed to review ballots for the Hamilton Southeastern school board cast in the Nov. 3 election.
In the vote for one of two Delaware Township seats on the board, Sarah Donsbach finished 30 votes ahead of incumbent Amanda Shera. There were 29,480 ballots cast in that race. Votes in the 71 Southeastern precincts will be reviewed.
Superior Court 2 Judge Jonathan Brown entered an order Thursday appointing Joe Weingarten, Amy Summerfield and Jerry Liston as members of the commission.
The main emphasis of the recount will be concerned with 14,000 absentee votes. Ballots cast on machines should not be a problem, but the hand count of the absentees will take time.
State law prescribed that a member of each political party and a person qualified as a mechanic familiar with the voting machines used in the jurisdiction shall make up the three-member commission.
In this case, several thousand absentee ballots are expected to get the most attention and take the most time to review since the machine numbers can be quickly reviewed and added.
The recount, requested by Shera, will begin no later than Dec. 8 and must be completed by Dec. 20 with the winner and other new members taking office Jan. 1. Southeastern has two members from each township that compose the district, plus one at-large member. Besides Delaware Township, Fall Creek and Wayne townships make up the school district.
Both candidates involved in the recount along with their representatives and members of the news media are entitled to attend the recount proceedings.