Clear Creek ISD to recount votes from District 5 race

Clear Creek ISD leaders will, for the first time, formally re-examine votes from a school board election after receiving a request for a recount in District 5.

A general election was held May 1 for Districts 4 and 5, as well as for at-large Position A, and a May 10 board of trustees workshop was dedicated in part to the canvassing and declaration of election results. The recount petition applies to District 5 only, meaning the results of the District 4 and at-large position races are not being contested.

Unofficial results show incumbent Jay Cunningham won re-election in District 5 by more than 550 of the 2,257 votes cast: Cunningham earned 1,406 votes, or 62.4%, while opponents Christine Parizo and Keith Esthay earned 841 votes, or 37.26%, and 10 votes, or 0.44%, respectively.

There are no grounds required for a recount of electronic voting system results, which is the case with the CCISD race, according to the procedures indicated on the Texas Secretary of State's Office website. The process entails the presiding officer of the governing body—in this case, board President Laura DuPont—acting as the supervisor and appointing at least four people to serve on a committee assisting with the recount.

The district is working to obtain the ballots and begin the recount process, which CCISD's General Counsel Leila Sarmecanic said is “quite costly.” The person who requested the recount can be liable for paying certain associated costs; the costs will be borne by the requesting party if a recount does not change the outcome of the race, per state regulations.

District officials did not specify a timeline for the recount, as this is the first instance of such an event that Sarmecanic and Paul McLarty, deputy superintendent of business and support services at CCISD, could recall.

“This is a first for us in the district,” Sarmecanic said.