Recount Confirms Johnston's Win In Chairman's Race

CANTON, GA — A recount held Wednesday in the race to become Cherokee County next commission chairman didn't change the outcome, as Harry Johnston's victory by a razor-thin margin remains in place.

The recount was held at the request of fellow challenger Stanley Townsend, who originally lost the race by a 98-vote margin. As elections officials were sorting provisional ballots after they were counted, staff members noticed one voter placed a check mark in an oval box rather than filling it in per the directions, said Elections Supervisor Kim Stancil.

"Even though the optical scanner didn’t reject the ballot, it read the ovals as blank," she added.

That ballot was duplicated onto a clean ballot Wednesday morning and the staff ran the provisional tally again. The result moved the needle ever so slightly in Townsend's favor, with the margin going from 98 to 97 votes, Stancil added.

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On his Facebook page, Townsend thanked his family, friends and Cherokee County residents who supported his campaign.

"It has truly been an honor getting to know so many great people, from all walks of life, throughout this county," he said, noting the recount confirmed he came up 97 votes short to take the seat.

He noted that while he was "confident" the Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration staff members did a great job in handling the May 22 primary election, he believed he "owed it to my family, my team and the 9,874 citizens that voted for me in this election to request this recount."

Commission Chairman-elect Johnston said he was glad to see the recount confirm his win, but noted "so many small things could have shifted the outcome" due to the drastically close margin.

"Of course, I'm glad it went my way, but it could have easily gone the other way," he said.

That close of a margin, he added, magnifies how divided Cherokee County is over some issues and how it's incumbent on him to try to pull those factions together to move the county forward. He also said he's had citizens who supported Townsend reach out to him "in the hopes that we can work towards the common ground that we all have."

Johnston also said he is aware of the breakdown of votes in all 42 precincts, which he said shows a north versus south, rural versus suburban divide in Cherokee County politics.

"That is the divide that we need to work together to overcome," he said.

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