Tulsa District 71 Candidate Says 'Lost' Ballots Make Him Winner

The candidate who won the vote but lost the recount in House District 71 believes he might be close to winning the race after all.

Democrat Dan Arthrell and his attorney, Greg Bledsoe, believe a review of "lost" ballots proves they are the ballots that were cast on Election Day for Arthrell.

If the two ballots are included in the total, Arthrell wins the race by one vote. If they are not, Republican Katie Henke wins.

Henke won a manual recount of previously machine counted ballots, by one vote.

However, the Tulsa election board determined two ballots were missed in the recount – and they votes which were for Arthrell.

Monday the Oklahoma Election Board Secretary said unique serial numbers from the missed ballots match ballots which were properly cast on Election Day.

The two ballots were likely the final ones cast before the polls closed – they were scanned by the voting machine at 6:56 and 6:59 pm.

The election board review of the ballots Monday came after attorneys for Henke and Arthrell argued their positions on the ballots before a State Supreme Court referee.

The Supreme Court could act on the new information as early as Tuesday and a related Tulsa District Court hearing on the case has been cancelled.

04/12/2012 Related Story: Tulsa County Judge Could Decide Who Wins The State House District 71 Seat