CLARK COUNTY, Ind. — Scott Hawkins has officially conceded to Rita Fleming in Clark County's State Representative race, District 71.
On election night, Republican Scott Hawkins was leading 50% to Democrat Rita Fleming's 49.9%, with a difference of 35 votes.
Though Hawkins was originally projected to win, over a thousand misplaced ballots led to his opponent instead winning the election.
Fleming now has 50.4% of the votes and Hawkins has 49.6%, with a difference of 156 votes, according to the Indiana Secretary of State's website.
Officials say during the routine ballot canvassing process, they were notified that approximately 1,700 absentee ballots from Clark County were not included in the unofficial vote totals released to the public on election night.
County Clerk Susan Popp said the issue was caused by data not transferring from a voting machine to the election totals. She was clear that no ballots were "found" as previously reported.
Popp said all seven of the county's voting machines that counted absentee ballots were working perfectly, the issue came when staff took out the memory cards. One of the cards didn't transfer to the computer system, she said.
Hawkins announced in a Facebook post that he accepted the new results on Nov. 25.
Scott Hawkins full statement:
Friends,
On Nov 8, I went to bed believing I had won my race for Indiana House of Representatives-71. We believed it would be an extraordinarily close race and that proved to be true.
Late in the afternoon of Nov 9, I was informed that there were uncounted ballots that had not yet been included in the results.
On Nov 11, the election board voted to accept these previously uncounted votes. As a result, my small margin of victory turned to a small margin of defeat. While I’m still unclear as to how the error occurred, I accept the results.
We fought a long, tough campaign. I have literally 100's of people to thank. It was an exhausting experience, but a rewarding one, from which I have no regrets.
I wish my opponent luck in Indianapolis. Inflation, education, and work force development are just a handful of the significant issues faced by our state. Work needs to be done. Results need to be produced- for the benefit of all Hoosiers.
I look forward to returning to my work as a Jeffersonville City Councilman and as President of Economic Redevelopment Commission. We have had a great many things to celebrate within those bodies and look forward to many more.
If I may end on an editorial note... we all need to do better in administrating our elections. I am concerned about our future if Americans don’t have faith in our elections. We live in a time where both parties believe elections will not be "free and fair". Mistakes happen but we need to have confidence in the integrity of the election process. Flawed and then delayed results, even for legitimate reasons, don’t give confidence to the voting public. I hope that we can focus on this process and be better in the future.
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