Hand recount of anti-fracking votes will be first in 2 decades

YOUNGSTOWN

A hand recount of an anti-fracking charter amendment in Youngstown will start Dec. 1 and could take two days to complete.

Backers of the so-called Community Bill of Rights said they will officially ask for the recount today after the Mahoning County Board of Elections certifies the results of the Nov. 3 general election.

“We won’t do the recount until Dec. 1 to give time to anyone else who wants to request a recount,” said Joyce Kale-Pesta the board’s director. “We don’t expect anyone else to ask for a recount, but [we] want that option available.”

Ray Beiersdorfer, one of the backers of the anti-fracking charter amendment, had a check for $2,475 with him at Friday’s board meeting, and said he’d turn it over to board officials today for the recount.

The board is allowed to charge up to $55 a precinct, and Youngstown has 45 precincts.

It would be the first hand recount of paper ballots in the county in at least two decades.

The anti-fracking measure failed for the fifth time though the 2.94 percent margin of defeat is the closest.

Read more about the board's other actions in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.