Graf still victor in recount

After a recount of the votes cast in the Nov. 6 election for St. Francois County recorder of deeds in which long-time Democratic incumbent Steve Grider narrowly lost to his Republican opponent Jay Graf, the number of votes changed, but Graf still won the race with a difference of 31 votes.

St. Francois County Clerk Mark Hedrick announced the recount results around 1:30 p.m. Friday after the county-wide votes were counted by machine and by hand to come up with the winner.

“After completion of the recount, Jay Graf won the election over Steve Grider by 31 votes,” Hedrick said.

Grider, who has held the position of St. Francois County’s recorder of deeds for 31 years, filed a document on the afternoon of Nov. 13 asking the circuit court to perform a recount, saying, “This way I’ll know for sure. Otherwise I’ll always be guessing. I thank everybody for their support and I just felt like I owed it to everybody to find out for sure.”

Also on Friday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, along with 19th Circuit Judges Daniel Green and Thomas Sodergren, certified the results of the statewide Nov. 6 general election.

“We owe the success of November’s election to the countless hours worked by local election authorities, boards of election and thousands of poll workers across the state,” Ashcroft said. “We’re grateful to the many Missourians who went out and made their voice heard on Election Day.”

More than 2.4 million Missourians exercised their right to vote in November, roughly 57.9 percent of registered voters.

Results of the constitutional amendments and propositions put before voters are as follows:

Constitutional Amendment No. 1 (General Assembly: Yes 62.02%, No 37.98% (Passed)

Constitutional Amendment No. 2 (Medical Marijuana): Yes 65.59%, No 34.41% (Passed)

Constitutional Amendment No. 3 (Medical Marijuana): Yes 31.50%, No 68.50% (Failed)

Constitutional Amendment No. 4 (Bingo Games): Yes 52.39%, No 47.61% (Passed)

Proposition B (Minimum Wage): Yes 62.34%, No 37.66% (Passed)

Proposition C (Medical Marijuana):. Yes 43.57%, No 56.43% (Failed)

Proposition D (Gas Tax): Yes 46.40%, No 53.60% (Failed)

Certified election results can be viewed online at enr.sos.mo.gov.

Graf

Kevin Jenkins is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3614 or kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com