FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County election officials did a post-election review of Tuesday's Republican primary voting and found no discrepancies.
Jennifer Price, the county's elections director, told the Election Commission she and the commission staff had taken the results tapes -- paper records created by each of the voting machines used in the election -- and entered the numbers from each machine into a spreadsheet. The results matched the final, but unofficial results reported on election day.
"There aren't enough outstanding ballots to change anything at this point," Renee Oelschlaeger, commission chairman, said during Thursday's meeting.
Patrick Deakins won the race for the Republican nomination for county judge by 18 votes over Mark Scalise. Both men attended Thursday's meeting and heard Price's presentation.
"The election results speak for themselves," Scalise said after the presentation.
Under Arkansas election laws, Scalise had until the end of the day Thursday to ask for a recount. He made no request for a recount at the commission meeting.
Deakins said he's confident the results would withstand any challenge.
"I think that our Election Commission always does a fine job," Deakins said. "I have no questions about the integrity of the election or those numbers. There are so many 'fail safes' and double checks. There's no avenue to turn the election around."
Deakins will face Democrat Josh Moody in a contest for county judge in the November general election.
The Election Commission reviewed four provisional ballots at Thursday's meeting and voted to accept two of them. Those votes will be added to the totals before the election is certified.
Two provisional ballots weren't accepted. One was rejected because there was no proof the voter was registered in Washington County, Price said, although the voter said they had registered to vote while they were at a state Revenue Office. If the voter can provide evidence of that registration at a hearing set for June 30 the ballot could be counted.
The second ballot to be rejected was cast by a voter who had voted in the Democratic Party primary on May 24, Price said. Arkansas law prohibits voters who participate in one party's primary from voting in a runoff election held by another political party.
One other provisional ballot may be counted if the voter provides the required proof of their identity to the County Clerk's Office by Monday. The commission still has to wait until one overseas ballot is returned or until July 1 to certify the results.