Parish to count votes today

Published 12:10 am Tuesday, April 24, 2012

VIDALIA — The votes cast in Concordia Parish’s election Saturday will likely become official sometime today.

In most races, any change would have small effect on the final outcome, but in Police Jury District 4B — where challenger Jimmy “Boo” Wilkinson lost to incumbent Melvin Ferrington by a single vote — even one vote could mean the difference between a tie or a slightly higher win.

Concordia Parish Chief Deputy Clerk of Court Becky Zerby said the clerk’s office would be verifying votes today and sending in official results to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office.

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The chances of anything being different from the unofficial results that came in Saturday, however, are almost nonexistent, Zerby said.

“Since we have gone to the new electronic (voting machines), there has never been a change as far as the numbers of the votes in the machines goes,” she said.

The chief deputy clerk said that candidates could still dispute votes cast by individual voters. To do that, candidates would have to file a lawsuit by 4:30 p.m. April 30.

Wilkinson said he has asked for a recount because the vote was so close.

“I have asked for a recount to make sure all the votes are accurate and true,” Wilkinson said. “It was so close that I owe it to all the voters and supporters of my campaign to make sure everything is accurate and true — just to make sure there was no human error.”

Ferrington said he will check in on the vote validation, but he does not anticipate any changes in the count.

“With the voting machines you have now, it is electronic and goes directly to the secretary of state’s office, so I don’t see any changes,” he said.

One area where votes could be changed is mail-in ballots, he said, for example, if someone voted twice. Ferrington said he is unsure what he will do if the vote count does shifts one way or the other.

“We can go further and see what happens and what has happened, but I can’t comment on it right now until (it is official),” he said.

The clerk of court’s office will open the voting machine for counting at 10 a.m.