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Camara Blue expects to be at the Jefferson County Courthouse on Monday afternoon with more than $46,000 to pay for a recount of his District 3 County Commission election with Jimmie Stephens.
Following Friday’s certification of last week’s election results, Blue learned that it will cost $46,239.72 to get a recount. Considering the alternative, the challenger was pleased.
“No, that’s great. That’s great,” Blue told BirminghamWatch. “That’s good. It’s feasible. I was glad it’s not 80 ($80,000).
“Monday, I’ll come in with a cashier’s check and my official request for a recount.”
Blue trailed Stephens, who is the incumbent commission president, by 392 votes after all the ballots from the election had been tallied. Stephens had 26,609 votes to Blue’s 26,217, and Blue said early on he would seeking a recount “just clarity, peace of mind.”
Blue had his request for a recount signed and ready to submit when he walked into the probate court Friday afternoon for official certification of the results. He asked whether anything could be done to lower the cost of seeking a recount.
Retired Judge Carole Smitherman, who was appointed to serve temporarily as the county’s chief election official, was concerned about the higher price of getting a recount.
“When it was first presented to me, I said democracy should not cost this much,” Smitherman said. “I asked them to go back and make any adjustments that they could, and it came down by $40,000. If that is your request to me, I will ask … these people to look at it again and see if there’s any place where we can make any adjustments.”
The substitute probate judge said great care must be taken in handling ballots.
“The ballots are kept at a certain temperature,” she said. “When we go in the vault to get them out, we have to make certain that we don’t destroy them or cause any harm to them. All of this is part of the process.”
Jackie Anderson-Smith, the Jefferson County circuit clerk, said earlier in the week that a recount would be run much like the actual election, with staff and voting machines working from each voting place.
Deputy County Attorney Shawnna Smith said the request for a recount is not “all or nothing.” Blue could request recounts in some but not of the precincts.
If the margin of victory were one-half of 1%, the county would shoulder the expense. The District 3 race had a margin of .74 percentage points.
Blue said he has never before sided with people who clamored for a recount.
“I’m not a conspiracy (theorist),” he said. “I’ve turned my nose up at cheating and that talk. But now a lot of stuff just doesn’t make sense. I wish I knew which boxes that I could take a look at. I wish I would have taken pictures or had people in all of those boxes, but one box is 55 miles away from my house, and so I just I didn’t do it.
“Right now, it’s just a feeling, and I just want peace of mind.”
