Family members of Shannon Abbs who voted in Tuesday’s election: six. Votes by which she appears to have upset an incumbent for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors: five.

Mark Johnson, the supervisor she upset, said Wednesday evening that he doesn’t know if he’ll ask for a recount.

“I have not made a decision on that,” he said. “I’m looking into it.”

Abbs’ win was certified Wednesday. That began Johnson’s 10-day window to petition for a recount of his 651-to-646 loss, said the county’s general registrar, Raymond Cady.

All but a few of the roughly 1,600 votes cast in the election were electronic and are unlikely to change in a recount, Cady said.

The only paper ballots counted in the contest were 27 mailed-in absentee ballots, he said. There were 81 absentee ballots total.

Five mailed-in absentee votes were rejected because voters filled out the accompanying forms wrong, but they have been saved in case of a challenge.

And Cady said there is unlikely to be a Florida-esque hanging-chad fiasco in Orange County.

“These are very clear paper ballots that have big boxes beside the candidates’ names, and it would be hard to not to mark… Continue reading