Outcome Not Changed in Dearborn County Commissioner Recount

The process lasted nearly eight hours on Monday.

Photo by Travis Thayer, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – A recount was held on Monday for the Dearborn County Commissioner District 1 race.

The recount confirmed Jim Thatcher’s win over Mike Lawrence in the May 7 Primary Election.

The final tally was 2,494 votes for Thatcher and 2, 465 for Lawrence. The previous total was 2,492 for Thatcher and 2,464 for Lawrence.

Because Indiana law does not require automatic recounts for tightly contested races, Lawrence petitioned for a recount after being defeated by just 28 votes.  

The matter ended up in Circuit Court, where Judge Aaron Negangard decided the recount would be done manually, rather than electronically. 

Six seasoned poll workers (three Republicans and three Democrats) were assigned to take part in the manual recount. The counters were first tasked with separating all the ballots by precincts before counting could begin.

Each candidate was able to handpick watchers for the recount process.

The entire recount process took nearly eight hours. 

"I'd like to thank everybody. I know you worked hard today. I know it didn't change anything, but it will show our citizens what a good election system we have," said Lawrence.