Just days after a judge ruled in favor of Sandy Welch’s recount request in the school superintendent’s race, the Republican announced Tuesday she is dropping her request because she has not raised enough money to conduct the recount.
Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart Stadler ruled on Dec. 7 Welch had demonstrated probable cause that ballot-counting errors led to an inaccurate vote count. Stadler also ruled that Welch had until the end of the Dec. 11 business day to deposit the estimated cost of the statewide recount – $115,000.
Stadler denied a request from Welch’s attorneys to lower the bond, which the Montana Republican Party said Tuesday was a factor in coming up short in fundraising efforts on her behalf. Welch’s attorneys had asked for the bond to be reduced to $51,590, based on a flat fee determined by Flathead County’s per-vote cost estimates.
Bowen Greenwood, the Montana Republican Party’s executive director, said Welch “deserves a recount” based on “significant” vote-counting errors that may have cost her the state superintendent of public instruction’s race.
Welch trailed incumbent Democrat Superintendent Denise Juneau by 2,231 votes out of more than 468,000 votes cast in the final tally.
Greenwood said the party’s donors “stepped up to the plate very generously,” but in the end the price tag was too high.
“We hoped that the court would lower the bond,” Greenwood said. “There was good cause to believe that might be the case. When there are errors on the part of a Democrat chief elections official, it is not right that a Republican candidate should have to pay $100,000 to correct them.”
In a statement, Welch urged state officials to correct election problems that she says were verified in her court-approved recount request. She had alleged numerous errors by both voting machines and election judges, including jammed machines and the use of stickers to correct ballots instead of issuing new ballots.
“It is disheartening to have truly found what the state of our election system looks like,” Welch said. “We entrust a great deal of authority to our elected officials through the vote we cast every other year.
“When the officials who are responsible for securing that system cannot recognize the need for improvement, it is up to the voters to raise the bar of accountability.”
Welch thanked her supporters and offered to make the findings from her recount application available to “parties interested in fixing the issue.”
“I have been humbled by the support that has been given thus far,” she said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t reach the needed amount to keep going and to personally incur this financial liability is beyond my capabilities.
“I have the best and most loyal grassroots supporters, and I am honored to be their candidate, and it would have been an honor to serve them as State Superintendent; however, the vote count we must settle with indicates a different victor.”