The latest unofficial results for the commission district 3 race has a difference of 47 votes.
Speaking to the Riley County commission, County Clerk Rich Vargo presented the latest unofficial results for the race. Candidate Kathryn Focke now leads the race with 4,764 votes, with Candidate John Matta so far receiving 4,717 votes.
Vargo says he wanted to get the most up to date numbers as possible for the election canvas on Monday. The county clerk’s office had counted a total of 352 hand count ballots, including federal service ballots. The write-in board met the Monday after the election to count the ballots.
Vargo says the process needs time to play out due to a short staff and having to count all the write in ballots. He stressed they have to count ever write in legally.
“All those people who write in Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, or their own for every contest; that has to be counted legally. We had 4,841 write in votes we had to go through, each one individually,” says Vargo. “That’s additional tax dollars at work when people do that especially when they are not serious.”
