Two months of traveling throughout the county and making new acquaintances on the campaign trail have paid off for Larry Wells with a narrow margin of victory — a margin of only two votes.
Wells won with 666 votes and his nearest competitor was Kenny Barker with 664 votes. With such a slim margin, Barker said he will be requesting a recount.
“I’m not sure of how the process works, and I can accept either result; but with those counts being so close I will be asking for a recount,” Barker stated. “I don’t know if it’s an automatic thing or if I have to request it, but I will be making that request.”
According to Butler County Clerk Donna Hillis, these results are unofficial and nothing can be done in the way of a recount until after the results are certified on Friday afternoon.
“It’s been several years since anything like this has happened,” Hillis noted. “We’re going to be prepared for a recount, but it will have to be after noon on Friday.”
Wells said he is grateful to all who voted for him, and he looks forward to settling into his new position.
“I will just have to get in there and get situated and see how everything is going,” Wells remarked. “I had a couple of issues raised to me by some of the voters at the polls, so I know the residents of this county are expecting me to get to work for them.”
Wells commended all of his opponents in the race, and said he feels humbled to be the winner at this time.
“There were four of us running and it was a long process,” Wells said. “We worked the whole summer on this and it has been difficult, but it has also been a pleasure.”
For his part, Barker said he will be happy with whatever the results end up being after the recount.
“I like Larry a lot,” Barker said. “He’s a good guy and he’ll do good in that position. But we’ll have to see what happens after the recount. I’m no politician by any means. I’m just a hard working guy, and I hope everything works out without any problems. Either way, win or lose, I’ll be happy.”