Jessica Neal finished second in her bid to become the Republican nominee for Senate District 24, losing by just under 300 votes in official results to winner Shelley Funke Frommeyer.
The senate district includes all of Campbell, Pendleton and Bracken counties, and a small piece of Kenton County, and is currently represented by Republican Wil Schroder, who decided not to seek a third four-year term this year.
Neal filed a petition for a recount on May 27, prompting a court hearing Thursday to determine the cost.
“It was a pretty close race, and I firmly believe in making sure we have secure elections,” Neal said on her reasoning for a recount. Neal serves on the Campbell County Republican Party election integrity committee and previously penned an op-ed published at LINK nky suggesting that the election system is broken and that there is fraud present in it.
Neal’s petition for a recount includes the Campbell County Clerk’s Office, the State Board of Elections, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and Secretary of State Michael Adams.
Campbell County Judge Daniel Zalla presided over the case on Thursday where participants spent an hour conferencing before it even started in earnest.
Neal, who isn’t an attorney, represented herself in the case. Her petition failed to mention the county clerks in other counties in the senate district (Kenton, Pendleton and Bracken), prompting the attorney for the state board of elections to file a motion to dismiss the case.
“Petitioner fails to name the County Clerks of those counties, who have custody of the election materials necessary to conduct a recount, as Respondents,” attorney Taylor Austin Brown wrote in his filing. “The Petitioner fails to name either of her other two Republican challengers as well.”
Neal filed the case in Campbell County where she is a resident.
“I’m just doing a lot of research and that’s all I can say about that,” Neal said when questioned if she had anybody helping her.
“We will never be a free nation if we do not have secure elections,” Neal said in the op-ed published at LINK ahead of the May 17 primary. “This is why I will fight for authentic election integrity in Frankfort. I am an active member of the Campbell County Republican Party, where I have served on the Election Integrity committee since its formation last fall. We must fix the broken election system, eliminate fraud, and ensure the sanctity of each legal vote.”
Shelley Funke Frommeyer beat Neal by a vote count of 4,094 to 3,797. Chris Robinson came in third with a tally of 2,731 votes. Neal said she “hopes there’s not” any fraud in this case but wants a recount to make sure.
Judge Zalla gave Neal until Friday, June 17 to respond to Brown’s motion, and the state board will have until the following Monday to respond to Neal’s response. Neal said she plans to proceed with the case if the judge doesn’t dismiss it.
“I do plan to respond,” Neal said. “The judge has given me a certain period of time in which you may do so and I would like to see the case move forward.”
If Zalla doesn’t dismiss the case, the next step would be a bond hearing on June 30, Brown said, noting that recanvasses are free for candidates, but under a 2021 law candidates must have a margin of loss less than one percent. There isn’t a margin of loss for recounts, but petitioners are responsible for footing the bill.
A recanvass reviews the vote totals, while a recount must be ordered by a circuit court judge and includes examining each ballot.
“I anticipate you’d hear testimony from the various stakeholders as to what it would actually cost,” Brown said.
Meanwhile, Frommeyer declared victory in the May 17 primary and is set to face Democrat and Highland Heights city councilmember Rene Heinrich in the fall.