Cong OH-15 & Ohio House 20th: Recount Notes UPDATED

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Franklin County Board of Elections will hand-count more than 19,000 ballots, 10% of the total cast, instead of 3% as required by law. This will be done in order to compare hand-count results to those produced by computers and counting machines. "It will give us a greater opportunity to test and prove the accuracy ... of our new system," said Franklin County Elections Director Matthew Damschroder.

The recount for the 15th Congressional District, mostly located in Franklin County, is expected to be finished by December 15th. Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) leads challenger Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) by 1,055 votes.

Meanwhile, I'm told that challenger Bev Campbell (D-Gahanna) has requested a full recount in the 20th Ohio House District, also in Franklin County. She trails Rep. Jim McGregor (R-Gahanna) by 364 votes, not quite close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

UPDATE: A reader has alerted me that the election law experts at the Moritz College of Law Election Blog question whether state election law, as amended, requires only a 3% recount, or in fact a total recount. See here, here, and here.

2nd UPDATE: As Bonobo notes at Blue Bexley, that's 109 precincts in the 20th Ohio House District for which Bev Campbell is paying $50 each to get this recount. A total of $5,450. The campaign needs more donations and volunteers to observe the recount.