HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – A recanvass conducted by the Christian County Board of Elections determined that there are no discrepancies with the Ward 8 Hopkinsville City Council votes, despite the close race.

Pursuant of KRS 117.305, the process was initiated upon the request of Democratic candidate Tiffany Pittman, who lost the Nov. 3 general election against Republican Stephen Crisp by 27 votes. As explained by County Clerk Melinda Humphries, the recanvass allows them to manually check final tally from each of the 48 voting machines at every polling locating in the county and compare them to the tabulated results to make sure they were documented correctly for this particular race.

Pittman joined other members of the board elections and Humphries on Nov. 12, and she was given the chance to personally cross reference the number of votes listed on tally tapes for each voting machine compared to what was documented. Individual ballots are not examined in this process.

The entire recanvass took less than thirty minutes Thursday morning, and it was found that all of the tabulated numbers were correctly reported on election night.

  • Stephen Crisp (R): 3,690 50.18%
  • Tiffany Pittman (D): 3,663 49.82%

“I think anybody that runs for an election with that close of a race deserves a second look,” said Pittman after the recanvass was conducted. She hopes that this close race motivates more voters to get to the polls for local elections in the future to ensure their voices are heard.

Next steps may include recount

“I love to help educate the community in any way election related,” Humphries told Christian County Now while preparing for the recanvass. “There are mountains of post-election things that we have to do that after Election Day, no one thinks about.”

She said the board of elections has not conducted a recanvass in several years, but it reamains an important and necessary part of her job for the sake of transparency and integrity in the election process.

“It’s spilt milk, I can’t cry over that. I am excited that I actually took the chance to put myself out there, hopefully I’ve inspired other people to go out there and do it…I’m proud of myself I’m proud of my county,” Pittman added, saying that this tight margin of votes in a predominantly Republican county is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Despite this positivity, Pittman disclosed that she is still may pursue an actual recount of each individual ballot for Ward 8. The deadline to get this process started is Nov. 13 and would involve the Christian County Circuit Court. If Pittman goes this route, she will be responsible for legal fees associated with the process.

Prior to this process, a “hand-to-eye” audit of the votes cast in one randomly selected race and scanner was conducted after the Nov. 3 election, and no discrepancies were found. Humphries will now present the election results to the grand jury as part of the process.

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