Oregon Public Broadcasting

The final results still aren’t in for one race in last month’s Oregon primary.  A ballot measure that would give officers more power to forfeit crime-related property is so close, officials plan a statewide recount.  Salem correspondent Chris Lehman has more

You might not remember Measure 53.  No one actively campaigned for or against it.  It was placed on the ballot by the 2007 Legislature.

Initial results show it passing by around 600 votes out of nearly a million cast.  That’s a small enough margin to trigger an automatic recount, and in Oregon that means a hand recount.

State elections director John Lindback says county officials will pay special attention to marks that may have been too light to be picked up by the optical scan machine the first time around.

John Lindback “And that’s one of the reasons why you have recounts, is to make sure that every vote that maybe a machine couldn’t read is examined and counted if you can possibly count it.”

Lindback says there’s never been a case in Oregon where a statewide hand recount has reversed the initial results.

The Measure 53 recount should be done by the end of the month.