Recount gets under way in sheriff's race

SAPULPA, Okla. (AP) _ A 14-vote difference in the Creek County sheriff's race brought election officials together Thursday to recount ballots by hand. <br><br>Creek County court officials expected

Thursday, November 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SAPULPA, Okla. (AP) _ A 14-vote difference in the Creek County sheriff's race brought election officials together Thursday to recount ballots by hand.

Creek County court officials expected the recount to get under way by mid-morning.

Sheriff Larry Fugate requested the new tally after narrowly losing last week to Republican Steve Toliver, a Sapulpa police lieutenant. Unofficial returns showed the Democratic incumbent received 11,575 votes, compared with Toliver's 11,589.

State Election Board Secretary Lance Ward said most recounts in Oklahoma are done by hand. A judge must first determine that the ballots were properly secured before the recount can begin.

Then, bipartisan teams of two counters examine the ballots and decide the vote. Two other people tally the vote, he said. The candidates also can have a representative present, as well as watchers at each table where the count takes place.

The watchers can object to the counters' decisions, he said. The three-member election board then decides what constitutes a vote.

``We don't hold it up to the light, and we don't try to look into the voters' minds,'' he said, referring to recounts in Florida in the up-in-the air presidential race.

Fugate also raised allegations of irregularities in the race. He alleged that voters were denied their right to vote at two precincts when a ballot shortage forced them to cast sample ballots and write their choices on pieces of paper.

A separate hearing was scheduled on his petition.

Ward described the recount and hearing process as routine. He said Oklahoma's statewide election system provides uniformity, unlike Florida's system.

``It's happening in Creek County exactly the way it would happen in any county. That is the strength of Oklahoma's election system. Whether it's Creek County or Gotebo,'' Ward said, ``it's going to happen the same way, with the same rules and same laws.''