Kentucky 13th District House race candidate DJ Johnson, center, talks to election officials. Photo / AP
A recount in a Kentucky state House race originally won by a Democrat by a single vote has ended in a tie after the local board of elections decided to open and count five absentee ballots that had previously been rejected.
Democrat Jim Glenn defeated former Republican state representative DJ
Johnson by a one-vote margin. Kentucky does not have automatic recounts, and the Kentucky State Board of Elections certified Glenn as the winner. He was sworn in on January 5 and has an office and been assigned to committees.
But the Republican-controlled state legislature ordered a recount at Johnson's request.
Yesterday, the Daviess County Clerk's Office recounted more than 12,000 ballots by hand. Glenn emerged from that process ahead by three votes. But after a personal appeal from Johnson, the Daviess County Board of Elections voted to give Johnson one of those votes back, putting him down by two.
The board then reviewed 17 absentee ballots that they had unanimously rejected on election day. This time, the board decided five of those ballots were legal, and opened them. Johnson received three, Glenn one and one ballot was blank. Each candidate received 6323 votes.
