District 9 recount approved

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana State Recount Commission on Tuesday approved a recount in the 9th Congressional District, expected to be the largest and most expensive recount since the commission was created.\nThe Democratic Party and Rep. Baron Hill, who lost to Republican challenger Mike Sodrel by 1,485 votes in the southern Indiana congressional district, filed for the recount after questions arose over whether optical-scan voting systems recorded straight-party votes erroneously.\nSodrel responded Tuesday, saying a "substantial number" of ineligible voters might have cast ballots in Monroe County and that it could be impossible to determine who received the most votes in that county.\nThe commission approved a recount that will cover the 613 districts and 280,000 voters.\n"This is a lot of work," said Secretary of State Todd Rokita.\nOfficials did not predict how much the recount would cost, but one earlier this year for the state Senate race between Larry Borst and Brent Waltz cost about $60,000, and included only 13,000 voters and 100 precincts, Rokita said.\nHill filed for the new tally after a recount Thursday in Franklin County showed about 600 straight-Democratic Party votes had gone to Libertarians in initial tabulating.\nFranklin County is not in the 9th U.S. House District, but three counties that are -- Ripley, Scott and Switzerland -- also used optical-scan voting systems provided by the same manufacturer.\nThe Recount Commission called an emergency meeting Friday to impound election materials in the Hill-Sodrel race.\nA preliminary examination of the materials in some counties will begin Thursday. The recount, including hand-counting of many ballots, will start in Monroe and Dubois counties on Nov. 29.\nRokita said he would like to get the recount finished before the January session of Congress begins, although there is no formal deadline.\n"Thoroughness doesn't have a deadline," he said.\nThe Recount Commission had also impounded election materials in the Indiana House District 9 race won by incumbent Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City.\nThe commission voted Tuesday to not proceed with a recount in that race, which Pelath won with 89 percent of the vote in unofficial results.