Tulsa County Clerk recount underway, judge could toss results, order new election

The recount is underway in the race for Tulsa County Clerk.

After a Thursday morning hearing, Judge William Kellough cleared the way for the recount to begin at 1 P.M.

Five different teams are hand-counting nearly 18,000 ballots.

The final count from last Tuesday’s election has Pat Key beating Dean Martin by 179 votes.

Patty Bryant with the Tulsa County Election Board doesn't expect that to change much, if at all.

Bryant says, “There could be a one or two vote difference but if it’s more than that, I'd be really surprised.”

KRMG learned Thursday afternoon that the results of the recount could be meaningless.

A judge is scheduled to rule next Friday on whether there are too many irregularities to determine a winner with mathematical certainty.

If that happens, the results would be tossed out and a new election ordered.

Bryant tells KRMG that the soonest that new election could happen is the second Tuesday in January 2013.

Martin’s lawyer claims that there are more than 1,800 irregularities in the absentee ballots.

Key’s lawyer argues that any irregularities are inconsequential and don’t affect the vote totals.