Senate District 43 Recount Continues

A recount in the contested Senate District 43 election continued today with Oklahoma County Election Board officials conducting the checking of ballots.

Democrat David Boren requested the recount after his apparent loss to incumbent Republican Senator Jim Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, by 157 votes in latest unofficial vote totals.

The district includes parts of Cleveland and Oklahoma counties. Cleveland County officials finished their count Wednesday.

Oklahoma County workers counted more than 16,000 ballots as watchers from the Boren and Reynolds campaigns looked on. The Oklahoman reported that occasionally, a partisan observer would object to a counter’s ruling on a ballot. Sanderson would remove the ballot from the pile. The three-member election board will review the ballots and make a ruling at the end of the day, Sanderson said.

Boren, a nurse who is not related to former Oklahoma governor and University of Oklahoma President David Boren, sat watching the count Thursday morning.

“We won’t know until it’s done,” Boren said. “If you don’t take a chance, you don’t have a chance.”

Boren has alleged voter irregularities in his race. Reynolds, who has served eight years in the state Senate, also alleged voter irregularities, but withdrew his compliant.

A hearing on the voting irregularities is scheduled for Monday in an Oklahoma County District Court courtroom.

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