By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó The Rowan County Board of Elections will conduct another recount of the Landis mayorís election results.
This time, the board will use what is called a hand-to-eye recount. It will take place Monday at 2 p.m. at the board of elections office.
On election night, incumbent Dennis Brown and challenger James Furr finished with 195 votes apiece.
On Thursday, after a discretionary recount, election officials determined Furr had one less vote.
ěMy board and I wanted to make sure the count was accurate,î Elections Director Nancy Evans said.
The board checks each ballot by hand and compares the numbers that were calculated by the tabulator the night of elections.
She consulted with the state board of elections, which gave the go-ahead to conduct the new recount.
The board wanted to do the hand-to-eye recount before the provisionals are certified on Tuesday, ěso we can have an accurate count.î
Mondayís recount should take about an hour, Evans said.
This latest recount is being done because the race was so close. ěWe donít want voters to doubt our accuracy,î Evans said.
The state has been conducting hand-to-eye recounts since 2006, but this is the first time the local board has had to conduct one, Evans said.
According to her recollection, the board has only performed a sample hand-to-eye recount. That means if there are 20 precincts, the state may require the board to sample two of them.
The hand-to-eye recount is a way to determine a voterís true intent, Evans said.
Sometimes voters incorrectly mark a ballot and the tabulator doesnít recognize a mark. It also may not count a ballot because of a stray mark. This way, the board can look and double check the intent of the voter.
As of Thursday, the new total for Brown is 195: 187 votes received at the polls, seven early votes and one mail-in vote. The total for Furr is 194: are 181 votes received at the polls, 13 early votes and no mail-in votes.
On Tuesday, elections officials will consider the status of three provisional ballots. If allowed, they will count in the final totals and may help determine a winner.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.