State House race concludes with no change after recount
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Republican incumbent Rep. Elijah Pierick will keep his seat to represent Royal Kunia, Village Park, Honouliuli, Hoopili, and Waipahu in House District 39.
A recount by the Hawaii Office of Elections posted Friday showed no change in results.
The recount was automatically triggered after the fourth printout, posted Wednesday evening, showed Pierick winning by a mere 20 votes over Democrat challenger Corey Rosenlee.
Rosenlee had been in the lead until then.
The law requires recounts if the margin is less than 0.25%, which amounts to 25 votes in House District 39.
The razor-thin, 20-vote margin triggered a painstaking recount of nearly 10,000 ballots.
Read more: Late Republican votes lead to recount, GOP wins in Legislature
With most ballots mailed in or dropped off at various locations, ballots are no longer sorted into precinct locations, which meant the ballots had to be found among the more than 300,000 votes cast on Oahu, according to Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago.
“We know everybody wants prompt finality. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing now rather than later,” Nago said Thursday.
Election officials said Friday that 75 ballots need signature checks in that district. If all are counted, Rosenlee would need 70% of the vote to take the lead.
Read more: State races conclude with latest printout
A Hawaii News Now analysis shows that with total turnout at just over a half million voters, about 80,000, or 16%, were cast in the final days.
Half of them cast votes for Donald Trump, and many Republicans, like Pierick, benefited.
Pierick said he was grateful to those last-hour voters who endured rain and darkness to cast their votes.
“They stayed that long past 7 p.m. to cast their votes and I am so grateful that they did,” Pierick said.
Rosenlee told Hawaii News Now Thursday that the last 48 hours were a rollercoaster of emotion.
The high school teacher and former Hawaii State Teachers Association leader expected he’d be joining other House Democrats at their caucus meeting Thursday.
Rosenlee said he realized recounts rarely change the outcome by more than a couple of poorly ballots, usually ones not cleanly marked by the voter.
Rosenlee said as a history teacher he regularly explains the importance of voting in democracy.
“I’ll just be a great learning lesson about why every vote matters and why they need to register and go out there and vote,” he said.
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