The results are officially in, and nothing has changed from the preliminary vote count Tuesday night in Butler County.
According to Butler County Clerk Donna Hillis, the official vote has been certified and there was nothing to alter the original count.
“We didn’t receive any military ballots,” Hillis explained. “That’s usually the way it goes. I think what might happen is military ballots get requested, but something comes up and they don’t get mailed back in to us. We made sure to double check with the post office before we certified the vote.”
In addition to there being no military ballots to count, Hillis stated there was only one provisional ballot to count for the whole county.
“The one provisional ballot was for the eastern district of the county, so it had no impact on the Butler County Western District Commissioner race,” Hillis explained. “That count didn’t change.”
The race for the Butler County Western District Commissioner seat was decided by a difference of two votes, with Larry Wells receiving 666 votes and Kenny Barker receiving 664 votes. Following the release of the preliminary results Tuesday night, Barker said he wanted a recount because of the narrow margin of defeat; he also said he would accept the results if he lost.
Barker was unavailable for comment at the time of this publication.
“My understanding of how an official recount would work is that Mr. Barker would need to hire an attorney to file a recount request with the circuit clerk,” Hillis explained. “From there, the judge would have to make the decision as to when and how the recount would occur.”
Hillis went on to explain that Barker has until Wednesday — five days from the posting of the official results — to submit a request for recount.
“As of right now, everything is completely finished,” Hillis remarked. “It’s out of my hands unless Mr. Barker requests a recount.”
All official Butler County election results are posted online and can be viewed by going to: https://butlercountymo.com/county-clerk-election-authority.