KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The saying goes that you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch. Candidates typically know that results coming in on election night are not the final and certified results, and must resist the urge to declare victory in small, close races.
And it was a small, close race in Kansas City this year between incumbent Rep. Bonnaye Mims and challenger India Williams. On Aug 5, 2,854 votes were cast in the race. The unofficial results on primary day were not good for Mims, who appeared to lose by less than 20 votes.
But a few weeks later, when Kansas City and Jackson County certified their results, things had changed. Mims was declared the victor by a mere 11 votes.
As ballots make their way back to their election boards and results are certified, the numbers can change. One of the biggest factors in a vote shift in urban areas like Kansas City is the high number of absentee and provisional ballots cast. It’s not uncommon for someone to be registered under one name, but using another one almost exclusively. Sometimes there are typos or computer errors, or the voter simple fails to produce the information necessary to find him on the spot.
Rather than send them home, they are given a ballot to be either approved or rejected later. About 60 provisional ballots were cast in the Mims/Williams race, and about 44 of them ended up being counted. Kansas City Election Board Director Shaun Kiefer said that a few technical snafus made the Aug. 5 results change as well.
“We had a memory card that did not properly upload for a while,” Kiefer said. “So we had to bring our technicians in; we also had some absentee ballot remakes. For those reasons, we told both parties on election night that the race was too close and they should be careful until results were final.”
The new count gives Mims the win, but Williams has already formally requested a recount in the race with the Secretary of State’s office. A spokesperson for the SOS said the official recount request was received earlier today, and state statute requires all recounts be complete within 20 days.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
