Updated 6:15 PM 11/10/08

We have just received word that they will be recounting the early ballots and absentee ballots all over again in the race for Wakulla County Sheriff. No word when we they will have the results.

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Updated 6:10 P.M.

As ballots are being recounted, angry residents continue to voice their concerns and questions about the integrity of their vote.

"I think our poll workers did a good job, I'm not suggesting that we don't have good poll workers in our county. There was some honest mistakes that were made. And based on those honest mistakes the integrity of the whole election process has been compromised," said Sue Damon, a Wakulla County resident.

"What I would prefer to see is that they invalidate all the local elections and start from scratch," said Ron Piasacki, a Wakulla County resident.

But some say the errors don't impact the actual vote. "There's no evidence that any of those mishaps have resulted in any corruption in the voting process itself. This is fertile ground for conspiracy theorists however. And that's what's going on inside, outside and all around the county," said Jack Leppert, a Wakulla County resident.

Sherida Crum has been the Wakulla County Supervisor of Elections for 24 years and says she has complete faith in the system.

"It's very hurtful after working so hard to prevent fraud and to make sure that everybody's vote counts, it does hurt. But everybody has different ideas than others," said Crum.

The recounting for the County Commission District 5 seat started Friday morning. After Provisional ballots were counted Thursday night, Lynn Artz is still ahead of Jim Stokely by 8 votes.

The winner may not be decided until this weekend, after the Canvassing Board manually recounts the under and over votes on Saturday.

Over and under votes are ballots kicked out of the machine. An over vote is when a voter marks both circles, this has no impact on the race. But an under vote can make a difference. It's when there is no mark in either circle, but if there is intention that the voter picked one candidate, than that vote is counted. For example, if someone circled the candidates name instead of filling in the oval, that will count.

Recounting for the Sheriff's race start on Monday. Sheriff David Harvey is 48 votes ahead of Charlie Creel.

Many questions surround this election, questions like seals being broken, ballots being put in the wrong bag, and even the county attorney being business partners with Sheriff David Harvey. But the Canvassing Board is assuring residents that every precaution has been taken.

The Canvassing Board has been addressing any questions from the public. The Wakulla County Supervisor of Elections says she has not seen any sign of fraud throughout the election process.

Ron Mowrey, the county attorney says he is not business partners with Sheriff David Harvey. He says he owns property with a partner who owns property with Harvey.
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Updated at 10:51 A.M.

The recounting of ballots, for Wakulla County District 5, got under way around 9 A.M. on Friday.

Wakulla county election officials are tabulating each race individually to assure the accuracy of the outcome. If there are under votes or over votes there will be a manual recount Saturday afternoon.

So we may not find out the winner of the District 5 race until Saturday. The ballots for the Sheriff's race will be recounted on Monday.
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Updated at 10:55 P.M.

Just when candidates and residents hoped for the final numbers and some closure on two highly contested positions, the recount in Wakulla County has been stopped.

The recount came to a halt Thursday afternoon when election officials called the Secretary of State regarding a questionable ballot.

The Secretary then advised that both the Commissioner District 5 seat and Sheriff race should be tabulated separately, which would make the recount go from a one day process to at least two.

However, Wakulla Election officials say they want to tabulate each race individually to assure the accuracy of the outcome.

"We decided that we would have it all, as much of it done by machine as possible and that our machines were not capable of separating the over and under votes of one race to the over and under votes of another race," says Wakulla County Judge, Jill Walker.

Provisional ballots were added to the total Thursday night and David Harvey still has the lead for Sheriff with 7,174 votes, while Charlie Creel has 7,126.

In the Commissioner District 5 seat race, Lynn Artz has 6,809 while Jim Stokley follows closely behind with 6,801.

"Unfortunately, our county didn't need this, it didn't need a split vote if you will, but we have it so we need to come back together. That's my hope, that Sunday or Monday when this is all resolved, the community can come back to being neighbors again," says Wakulla County resident, Chris Russell.

Election officials say they will start the District 5 Commissioner recount Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. and the Sheriff's race on Saturday morning.
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The Canvassing Board in Wakulla County has decided to end the recount race for the evening. They are currently running a Logic and Accuracy Test to make sure everything is running and good to go for tomorrow morning. Officials have not said when exactly they will continue the recount but we'll make sure to have that to you later tonight.

Officials say they plan to start recount tomorrow morning on the Commissioner District 5 Seat with plans to run another Logic and Accuracy Test tomorrow evening in preparation for the Sheriff race Saturday morning.

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Updated 5:30pm

The recount was suppose to start yesterday, but there was a slight delay explaining the process and making sure all the machines work.

Long time Sheriff David Harvey is up just 44 votes ahead of Charlie Creel. Lynn Artz is up just 7 votes in front of Jim Stokely for the County Commission District 5 seat.

"I think it's turned into more of an issue than it should have been. It seems to me like there was a lot of stories floating around that I don't believe were true and I think this should take care of it after they do the recount," said Richard Wiginton, a Wakulla County voter.

The Canvassing Board is overseeing the recount, along with the candidates and one of their representatives.

Sheriff David Harvey is the only candidate that is not present at the recount, his lawyer is there representing him.

Those in Wakulla county observing the recount, are sharing rumors they've heard over the past few days.

"We heard that the ballot box had been opened and they brought the ballots in bags. And when we heard this we were troubled and concerned about the integrity of the ballots," said Mike McAuley, a Wakulla County voter.

"I think they're rumors. I think it's just like everything we've read in the paper. This has been a mud-slinging dirty campaign from the get go and I'm proud of the way my uncle handled himself and I think we can hold our heads high," said Windy Jones, Sheriff David Harvey's niece.

The Supervisor of Elections says that at one precinct a clerk accidentally cut the seal off the memory card, but the poll server confirms that it was NOT tampered with and there was no fraud.
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Update at 5:10pm 11/6/08

The recount in Wakulla County for the Sheriff's race and Commission seat for District 5 was stopped after the secretary of state questioned whether or not both races could be tabulated at the same time during a recount.

After further investigation, the canvassing board found a statute that says it is legal to do both recounts at the same time.
At this time, they are reprogramming memory cards... and the recount is expected to begin again tomorrow morning.
Many residents showed up to catch a glimpse of the process.
Richard Wiginton said, "it's turned into quite a controversial vote and everything. And I just want to see how everything went and how it was handled and everything."

There is a possibility the recount could go through the weekend.

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Update 11/6/08 4:31

The recount in Wakulla County stopped for a couple of hours this afternoon after the secretary of state questioned whether or not both the County Commission District Five seat and the Sheriff's race could be tabulated at the same time during a recount.

After further investigation the Canvassing Board found a statute that says it is in fact legal to continue tabulating both races at the same time.

However due to ballot machines and the way they are technologically set up the Canvassing Board will continue to recount each race separately with regards to the over and under votes or margin of error.

They are scheduled to resume the count shortly, but because of the tabulation, there is a possibility it could go through the weekend.

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Updated 3:04 p.m. 11/06:

Records from the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations show that Sheriff David Harvey is business partners with County Attorney Ron Mowery.

Mowery was present for the meeting before the recounting of the ballots, initially. However, Mowery left before the ballots were actually counted.

Both cannot be reached for comment right now.

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Updated 2:51 p.m. 11/06:

Votes are still being recounted.

A Wakulla County resident says the Canvassing Board attempted to have a closed door meeting and said, "It's a shame you have to tell the judge it's illegal to have a closed door meeting."
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Updated 1:29 p.m. 11/06

The recount has begun in the Wakulla County Sheriff's race.

WCTV has a reporter on scene. We will keep you updated throughout the process.

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Updated 12:46 p.m. 11/06

The recount was supposed to begin at Noon today. However, officials have not started recounting the ballots.

WCTV has a reporter on scene. We will keep you updated throughout the process.

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Updated 10:26 a.m. 11/06

Lynn Artz, who is up 7 votes for the County Commission District 5 seat over Jim Stokely, says this recount is just like deja vu.

Four years ago, she was down three votes for the same seat in the Democratic primary.

There was a mandatory recount because it was so close and she ended up losing the race.

Unlike four years ago she is ahead and says she hopes it stays that way.

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Updated 7p.m.:

The recounting was suppose to take place Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. But it has been delayed until Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

So many people showed up to observe that there was barely enough room in the Supervisor of Elections office.

The canvassing board decided to only count 4 precincts at one time rather than all 14, to make room, and so each candidate can keep an eye on every vote being counted.

Sherida Crum, the Supervisor of Elections, has also asked a representative from the Secretary of State's office to observe the recounting, so there are no questions when the final results come in.

Many residents showed up to the recount Wednesday, with questions about the flip flop results on Tuesday night.

"The public has the right to know that the democratic process can work without being interfered with the sheriff's department bullying the people and stuff," said Mike McAuley.

"Well, I think there's a lot of people in this town who keep chumming up stuff saying there's a conspiracy theory and personally I think it's ridiculous," said Windy Jones, Sheriff Harvey's Niece.

Also being recounted in Wakulla County are the votes cast for Jim Stokely and Lynn Artz, who are fighting for the county commission district five seat. Artz won by just 7 votes.

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Updated 11/05 5:42 p.m.

The Wakulla Count Supervisor of Elections has postponed the recount until tomorrow, Thursday November 6th at 12:30 p.m.
Wednesday afternoon officials discussed the procedures involved and then decided to wait until Thursday to begin the recount.

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The Supervisor of Elections Office in Wakulla county says they will recount the votes tomorrow, Wednesday November 5th at 2:00 p.m.

WCTV will have continuing coverage of that recount.
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Longtime Democratic Sheriff David Harvey is seeking another term in Wakulla County. He faces Charlie Creel.

Elections officials say there will be a mandatory recount in this race.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Sheriff Harvey has 50.15 percent of the vote and Mr. Creel who does not have party affiliation with 49.85 percent of the vote.

In this race, it went back and forth until one precinct came down to a hand-count.

It appears that Sheriff Harvey has held onto his job by 44 votes. But, once again, a mandatory recount will be held soon.