By Kelly Kazek
kelly@athensnews-courier.com
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James’ request for a recount will cost between $1,200 and $2,500 in Limestone County, according to local GOP executive committee chairman Jim Burden.
Limestone is one of 40 counties in which James wants a recount of ballots, after coming in third in the GOP race behind Bradley Byrne and Robert Bentley in the June 1 party primary. Byrne and Bentley would then be in a runoff July 13 to determine which would be the Republican candidate for the November general election.
James was behind Bentley by 167 votes.
The recount is historic.
“As far as I know, there’s never been a recount on a primary election before,” Burden said. While recounts have been conducted in general elections, when the race is between a Democrat and a Republican — and possibly an Independent — a recount in the party primary is rare and no one remembers one in Limestone County.
Because the primary is an internal party election, the recount will be handled by the Republican party in each county. In Limestone, the work will be done Tuesday by a group of volunteers with help from local election officials.
“We got the information telling us to do it and we’re going ahead with it,” Burden said.
He provided an estimate of the cost to James, who will provide a bond to the county before work begins.
The local Republican committee will provide eight volunteers to help with the count; two workers will come from the Probate Judge’s office; two from the Circuit Clerk’s office, and two from the Sheriff’s Department.
Burden said the recount should be completed in one day. In Limestone County, 8,000 ballots were cast, Burden said. The ballots will be sorted and Democratic ballots removed. Then the Republican ballots will be recounted by machine.
Bobbi Bailey, election director for Limestone County, said the ballots have been in the possession of Sheriff Mike Blakely since the June 1 primary.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the ballots and elections boxes will be escorted by the sheriff to the elections room at the Clinton Street Annex. The boxes will be opened by Burden, sorted and fed into six counting machines.
“I suggested we have at least two people per machine and a couple of people floating,” Bailey said. “We’re trying to keep it to a minimal cost.”
Bailey said her department, as well as Circuit Clerk Charles Page Jr. and the sheriff’s department, is assisting in the recount but the Republican party is in charge. “We are in no way conducting this.”
Other counties in which James wants a recount are: Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clarke, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert, Covington, Cullman, Dale, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah, Geneva, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker and Winston.
