https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-politics/tulsa-mayoral-election-recount-to-cost-12-000-per-day-officials-estimate/article_cf03c648-66f8-11ef-90b9-0b430d181a08.html#tncms-source=login

Tulsa mayoral election recount to cost $12,000 per day, officials estimate

Tulsa candidate for mayor Brent VanNorman paid the Tulsa County Election Board $12,000 on Friday to do a manual recount of Tuesday’s general election results, Election Board officials said Friday.

For area taxpayers, the bill will likely be much higher. Election Board officials estimate it will cost $12,000 a day to put on the recount and that it will likely take several days.

“We will have somewhere between 40 to 50 people to help,” said Casey Reynolds, the Election Board’s assistant secretary. “That will be a mixture of precinct officials and Election Board staff. Precinct officials will be the ones counting the ballots, and we will have some of our Election Board staff there as support.”

“By law, the boards counting the ballots must be trained precinct officials. Precinct officials are paid at the same rate that they would receive for working the polls, which is $200 per day.”

Reynolds said the $12,600 VanNorman was charged is based on a set fee schedule of $600 for every 3,000 ballots, or fraction thereof, that are counted. 

County officials say the Election Board, at 555 North Denver Ave., is not large enough to hold the recount and that they are tentatively planning to use the county's new Election Board building.

If the request is approved by a Tulsa County District Court judge, with a decision expected Thursday, it could be another two weeks before the Tulsa County Election Board certifies the results.

Nichols received 18,729 votes on Tuesday, followed by Keith with 18,457 and VanNorman with 18,019, according to final unofficial results from the county Election Board.

That was enough to knock VanNorman out of contention for the Nov. 5 runoff.

In announcing his intention to seek a recount, VanNorman’s campaign said in a press release Thursday that because of the close nature of the race, there had been a groundswell of supporters encouraging the candidate to seek a recount.

“Given the incredibly narrow margin and the high stakes for Tulsa’s future, we believe a recount is justified and necessary,” VanNorman said. “This decision isn’t about challenging the process but about reinforcing confidence in it. We trust in the process, and we want to verify the results to ensure full confidence in this election.”

Under the city’s elections laws, if no one gets more than 50% of the votes, the top candidates whose combined vote totals equal or exceed 50% of the total votes cast in the general election move on to the runoff in November.