Thursday, April 16, 2020

Petitions for Racine Unified referendum recount have been filed

From The Journal Times.com:

RACINE — At least one petition asking for a recount of the votes in the Racine Unified School District April 7 referendum has been filed, Racine Unified spokesperson Stacy Tapp confirmed Wednesday morning.

The district’s 30-year referendum passed by a margin of just five votes: 16,748 to 16,743, during a controversial election when many people cast their ballots by mail to avoid in-person voting due to safety concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
The Racine Unified School District Board of Canvassers certified the election results on Tuesday, confirming that the district’s referendum passed by a margin of just five votes.
Meyers
The referendum money is set to fund $598 million in projects, including construction as well as debt service for that work. In total, it allows the district to levy $1 billion over 30 years.
After the board certified the results, anyone who voted in that election could file a petition to request a full recount.
George Meyers, a member of the HOT Government citizens group (known for its continual criticism of local government actions) and one of the three hosts of the Talking Racine online commentary program, filed a petition on behalf of HOT Government. In the afternoon, HOT Government posted on Facebook, saying it filed the petition that got the recount process started.
HOT (Honest, Open, Transparent) Government made the following statement Wednesday: “Hot Government a grassroots citizen’s organization stands for honest, open and transparent government. HOT believes the Racine Unified billion-dollar referendum was electioneered and politically motivated by the City of Racine. There are number of discrepancies that we want to investigate, and we will continue to keep the public informed.

When asked to clarify what the group meant by “electioneered” and what alleged discrepancies need to be investigated, HOT Government replied: “This investigation begins with the recount. Further information will be released as it becomes available.”

The petition filed by Meyers alleges that poll workers who supported the referendum performed “electioneering” at polling places and that “ballots were changed to falsely represent the intents of the voter,” although no direct evidence was included in the petition.

1 comment: