Politics & Government

Pritchett Investigating Possibility of Recount

Jeremy Pritchett lost the Ward 2 alderman race to Sonya Shryock by a margin of ten votes.

When the , Jeremy Pritchett found out that he'd lost to his Ward 2 rival Sonya Shryock by a mere 10 votes.

Pritchett told Patch that he’s in the process of finding out if he’ll ask for a recount.

Recounts are permitted by election law if the difference between the winning candidate and the second-place candidate is less than 1 percent.

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He said Election Authority Director Rich Chrismer told him Wednesday it could cost him up to $2,500 for a recount.

“That’s more than I spent on my entire campaign. I only spent $800,” Pritchett said.

Find out what's happening in Wentzvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“They said they had to pay to have election judges come in and count ballots, so I’m in a holding pattern,” he said.

He said if he has to pay for the recount, he likely would not seek one, but he believes he should be granted a recount “because of the margin of error. You’re talking about 10 votes out of 1,200 cast in the ward.”

Chrismer said there were costs involved in reprogramming the machines and in staff hours, as well as the court costs involved, but that he would try to work it out with Pritchett as much as possible to keep costs down.

Chrismer said that in his years as director, seven recounts had been held but none had ever changed the outcome of an election.

"Those machine are so doggone accurate," Chrismer said. "Even if it changed one vote, the chance of it changing 10 is pretty darn remote."

Chrismer said that the election results would not be verified until next Thursday, April 12.

Wentzville also saw a close race in the School Board election. The top three candidates were Sheryl Cox with 22.29 percent of the vote, Sandy Garber with 17.93 percent and David Hurst with 17.26 percent. Garber and Hurst were separated by 58 votes, or .67 percent.

Chrismer said that he hadn't heard of any recount request for that race.

Pritchett said he didn’t have a problem with Shyrock being Wentzville's Ward 2 alderman.

“Sonya’s going to make a great alderman,” he said. "Win or lose, I had a good time. It was all worth it."

"I got the fourth most votes of anyone on the ballot. I beat every aldermen in every other wards who won their races. I beat two of the mayoral candidates. It just shows how hard we all campaigned—Sonya, me and Donna Sherwood. That’s what it’s all about: getting people out and involved in the community.”

 


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