The Richmond County Elections Board met in an emergency session June 3, to hear a petition from Evita Paschall asking for a recount in the May 24 election for State Court judge in which she lost to Ashanti Lilley Pounds. After hearing Paschall’s petition, the board declined to issue a recount.
“The board heard all of Ms. Paschall’s allegations and found them to be without merit,” Elections Director Travis Doss said.
Pascall lost to Pounds by a total of 956 votes in the election to succeed retiring Judge David Watkins.
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According to the petition, there was a 3,875 vote discrepancy between the State Court judge race and other county-wide races and that a computer glitch might have been involved.
“There were several electronic difficulties with the Board of Elections computers during the race which would have caused numerous discrepancies with the returns recorded,” the petition claimed.
The Elections Board found that the discrepancy was due to the fact that voters may skip over a particular race if they choose and not cast a ballot.
Petitioners must prove that there exists a one-half of one percent discrepancy over the 50 percent margin to trigger a recount.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
