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Politics

Recount in School Board election may take days

April Griffin's 976-vote lead over Ken Allen for the open seat is less than a half percent.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published November 9, 2006

TAMPA - The too-close-to-call School Board race has forced a countywide recount, the first such test of Hillsborough's electronic voting.

As of Wednesday, candidate April Griffin held a 976-vote lead over challenger Ken Allen for an open seat on the School Board. But it will take days to declare a winner.

"I'm almost glad that the results are as close as they are," said Griffin, who expects to use her experience as a real-life civics lesson for students. "Every vote is important. It's going to be something that I can speak with passion about."

First, she had to learn about counting ballots at an afternoon meeting of the canvassing board, which oversees recounts. Griffin attended with a lawyer.

Hillsborough hasn't seen a large-scale recount since moving to electronic voting. County Judge Tom Barber, who sits on the three-member board, preferred a School Board recount to one in a higher-profile race.

"It's nonpartisan. Nobody has an ax to grind," he said. "You can see the system working."

In fact, challenger Ken Allen didn't realize that he could show up to the canvassing board meeting. Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson, presiding over his first major recount, quickly called Allen to make sure he wanted to go through with the recount. He did.

"I owe it to all the people who supported me to make absolutely certain," Allen said. "I just want to make sure every vote is counted."

State law triggers a recount when an election is decided by less than half of 1 percent of the vote. In unofficial results, Griffin leads by 0.4 percent.

Elections officials plan to work 12-hour days today and Friday - and perhaps into the weekend.

The easier piece is reviewing votes from electronic machines. They expect to reread the cartridges used to record the votes cast on nearly 2,900 electronic machines in Hillsborough.

But recounting more than 52,000 absentee ballots presents a time drain. The county has only two machines to read them.

Griffin and Allen have been running neck and neck since the primary. Griffin's supporters range from the district's union of blue-collar workers to Ralph Hughes, an east county conservative activist. He may have helped to tighten the race.

Just before the election, he sent a letter to voters questioning Allen's record as a longtime employee of the school district.

Griffin maintains her independence from Hughes, who did not return a call for comment. "I have concerns about the spending habits of the district," she said. "He has concerns about the spending habits of the district."

"When I became aware of that letter was when it landed in my mailbox," she added.

Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or 226-3400.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 01:24:08]