In defeat, Lois Bahle praises accurate and secure vote recount
From staff reports
The recount performed by the Leelanau County Clerk’s Office yesterday in the race for District 3 of the County Board of Commissioners concluded with no changes. Republican Will Bunek’s seven-vote win over Democrat Lois Bahle stood.
Bahle had called for the recount following her narrow loss in the Nov. 5 election—particularly after a whiplash three days after the election, when more than 3,000 in-person early votes that weren’t counted in the unofficial results, cost Bahle and two other Democrats their leads. The 6-1 supermajority the Democrats thought they would have on the Commission switched instead to a position in the minority, with three out of seven seats.
“I owe it to my constituents and to myself with only a seven-vote difference,” Bahle said earlier this month. “The recount process is also a way to show that the system works. We can have faith in it.”
Bahle echoed that sentiment today.
County Clerk Michelle Crocker
“The count process is an amazing demonstration of the organizational skill of Clerk Michelle Crocker,” Bahle told the Glen Arbor Sun.
“I hope that those that continue to come to the Commission meetings questioning the accuracy of our ballot process will ask Will Bunek for his opinion on the process and be assured the system works. We are so fortunate to have so many dedicated citizens in our community willing to do this detailed exercise to show that the vote process is secure.”
Bahle had petitioned for a recount of all six precincts in District 3, which represents Bingham and Suttons Bay townships. According to Crocker, the recount teams completed five precincts and were working on the sixth precinct when Bahle decided to withdraw the petition, as it became apparent that one ballot duplicate represented a ballot spoiled by a voter that decided to vote in person.
“When it became apparent that all precincts were a match and only the one single ballot was in question, I called the process done,” said Bahle.
The canvassers certified the recount results and re-certified Bunek as the winner, added Crocker.
“I thank all those involved in the process including the 12 people I had asked to observe,” said Bahle.
