STAUNTON - A Staunton School Board member who lost in the general election by two votes earlier this month has petitioned the Staunton Circuit Court for a recount.
Incumbent Ron Ramsey was ousted from the board on May 5 after garnering 1,320 votes. He was edged out by Kenneth Venable, who tallied 1,322 votes.
The other school board seats in Staunton went to Amy Wratchford, Christine Poulson and Natasha McCurdy, all newcomers.
Civil court documents show that Ramsey filed for a recount on Friday. In Virginia, a recount can be requested if the defeated candidate lost by less than one percent of the total votes cast. In this case, the difference was .075 percent, court records show.
Recounts are handled by the court, not the State Board of Elections.
Circuit Judge Charles Ricketts III will serve as the chief judge of the recount court, according to the board of elections, and the Supreme Court of Virginia will appoint two other judges to round out the recount court.
Ballots that were cast will be re-inserted into scanners for the recount, with write-ins, undervotes and overvotes separated so they can be counted by hand, according to the board. Only the votes cast for the school board seats will be counted.
A preliminary hearing has been set for May 18 in Staunton Circuit Court.
Because the vote differential was less than .5 percent of the votes cast, the cost of the recount will fall on the city.