The Kentucky State Board of Elections officially certified the results of the 24th Senate District Republican primary, along with other campaigns in the state that were contested in courts after the fact.
The 24th District is comprised of Campbell, Pendleton, Bracken, and a small part of Kenton counties.
Shelley Funke Frommeyer, the winning candidate in that three-way primary, has been certified as the winner of the race after one of her opponents held the race up in court this summer with a recount petition.
The Kentucky State Board of Elections voted to certify Frommeyer the winner on Tuesday, as well as the other five candidates that won the May primary but were not certified because of recount petitions.
Jessica Neal finished second in the three-way race which Frommeyer narrowly won. Frommeyer will face Democrat and Highland Heights city council member Rene Heinrich in November.
Neal, a member of the Campbell County Republican Party’s election integrity committee, has pushed conspiracy theories about elections in Kentucky and their potential for fraud.
“It was a pretty close race, and I firmly believe in making sure we have secure elections,” Neal said in May on her reasoning for a recount. Secretary of State Michael G. Adams, also a Republican, has called Neal’s efforts “frivolous.”
Neal took to the courts to seek a recount following her narrow loss, where she was asked to pay more than $57,000 for the full recount.
The recount started on Aug. 10 and concluded on Aug. 11. Campbell County Clerk Jim Luersen said the machines behaved as they were supposed to, and in all four counties, there was an issue with only one vote due to an “overvote.”
An overvote is when a voter marks a ballot in such a way that the machine has trouble reading the ballot. The machine spits the ballot back out, and the voter has a chance to redo their vote.
However, in the case of Campbell County, the voter chose not to recast their vote for the Senate race. When hand-counting the ballots, they were able to take that vote into consideration.
While the outcome of the vote tally didn’t change, Neal filed a motion last week that said the machines weren’t properly sealed.
“It is important to note that the machine’s seals will not be broken before the team is ready for counting that particular machine,” the motion reads. “Machines that arrived to the court with seals already broken cannot be verified as to whether their contents reflect the same contents exactly as appeared on election night at 6:00 p.m. May 17.”
“We invite Neal to acknowledge that the voting machines worked correctly and to express regret to the county clerks for all the inconvenience she has caused and continues to cause them as they try to prepare for the general election,” said Michon Lindstrom, the director of communications for Secretary of State Michael Adams, whose office oversees state elections.
Neal didn’t respond to questions for comment.
Neal has a hearing to hear that motion at 11 a.m. on Friday.
Campbell County Clerk Jim Luersen said everything was done by the book.
“The seals she’s talking about are on a part of the machine that has no access to the ballots and is not required,” Luersen said.
“The conspiracy theorists continue to move the goalposts, offering total silence after the recount disproved their allegation that the voting machines change people’s votes, and now presenting a new wild theory that will further waste precious time and resources of the courts and the county clerks,” Lindstrom said.