Arnold lost ACHD race by 2 votes. In recount, she lost by 4. Count again, she demands
Ballots have been counted twice in Rebecca Arnold’s Ada County Highway District race, but Arnold — who lost the race by just a few votes in both counts — wants them counted again.
Arnold, a Boise attorney, has sued her opponent as well as two Ada County officials, demanding that ballots in her Ada County Highway District race be recounted by hand.
She was seeking a fifth term on the commission representing District 2, which generally extends from the Boise River west to Linder Road, south of Ustick Road and north of Interstate 84, including part of the Boise Bench. She lost the nonpartisan contest to political newcomer Alexis Pickering, a community health strategist with the Central District Health Department.
In the election night tally, Arnold lost by just two votes among more than 31,000 cast. On Friday evening, the Ada County Elections office announced that a recount found that she actually lost by four votes.
She hired David Leroy, a former Idaho attorney general and lieutenant governor, to take her case to court. The lawsuit names Pickering, Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane and Prosecutor Jan Bennetts as defendants.
“It doesn’t appear that all of the valid votes have been precisely counted as the statute requires,” Leroy said by phone.
Leroy said a hand recount would ensure accuracy.
In addition, the lawsuit asks that a court reject some ballots by either:
▪ Rejecting 24 ballots from a single Boise precinct that were deemed “newly discovered” after they were not included in the original election night count, unless if officials can explain where they came from; or
▪ Rejecting all absentee ballots that were unsigned at first but later signed after elections officials notified the voters that their votes could not be counted without signatures. The process of obtaining those signatures is known as curing.
.jpg "pjimage (52).jpg")
Leroy told the Statesman that three misapplications of law led to the lawsuit:
▪ First, more ballots were counted in the recount than in the original count. According to the lawsuit, elections officials found 31 ballots after the initial count, and 19 of those were counted. Numbers from Ada County Elections show that 18 more ballots were added during the recount.
Chelsea Carattini, spokesperson for the Ada County Elections Office, said that the pending appeal meant she could not comment on why the number of ballots changed from the first count to the second, nor on any other details of the case.
▪ Second, hand counts of a limited number of ballots, required by law during the recount to ensure the accuracy of the machines that would tabulate all the ballots, led to different results than the machine counts of those same ballots.
If the hand tally is within 1% of the machine count, the county is free to use the machines to count as it did. According to the complaint, the difference between the hand count and the machine count was just over 0.003%. The hand count included at least 1,575, or 5% of all ballots cast in the election, according to Ada County Elections.
▪ Third, voters should not be allowed to cure their ballots, according to the complaint. In Idaho, counties are not required to reach out to voters to cure absentee ballots, although they have that option.
Arnold was entitled by law to the initial recount at the county’s expense, because the results on election night showed her within 0.1% of Pickering.
U of I prof says state law may not permit hand recount
Benji Cover, an associate professor of law at the University of Idaho who teaches election law, said that the ACHD election “is so close that the results of the recount might depend on whether it’s done by machine or by hand.” Cover, who is not involved in Arnold’s case but who reviewed the complaint at the Statesman’s request, teaches in Boise.
“As a matter of policy, if a hand recount is more accurate, then this race should be decided by a hand recount,” Cover wrote in an email. “As a matter of law, however, it’s not clear that the Idaho Code requires, or even permits, a hand recount here. If not, the Legislature may want to revisit the recount rules for close elections in the future.”
McGrane, the county clerk, said his goal was to ensure that every vote is counted.
“That’s what the recount process is for,” he said by email. “We’ve worked closely with the candidates to ensure all aspects of our process are transparent and open for review. We will cooperate fully with the courts and any decisions regarding the appeal. ... With a historically thin margin of 0.0049% in this race, even the smallest variances seem to have an outsized impact.”
Melanie Folwell, Pickering’s campaign manager, said the campaign would respond to the lawsuit in court by filing a brief later in the week.
“We have every faith the courts will uphold the results of the recount, which was executed lawfully, transparently and in full view of both parties,” Folwell said in a text message.
Arnold is a generally conservative voice on the nonpartisan commission and its the longest-serving member. She has often advocated for more car-centric roadways. Arnold ran unsuccessfully in 2019 for Boise mayor, coming in third behind Lauren McLean, who won, and incumbent David Bieter.
Pickering won the favor of more left-leaning people, including Boise City Council Member Holli Woodings, and advocated for bike lanes and other transit options.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said the office cannot comment on pending litigation.
A hearing in the lawsuit will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10.
.jpg)