Springfield, IL  (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Election ballots from 41 of the 166 voting precincts in Sangamon County are being scrutinized at the Sangamon County Building. It’s part of a discovery recount started Wednesday morning and requested by Josh Langfelder, who fell short by 31 votes to Frank Lesko in the county recorder race in November.

County Clerk Don Gray stated that the discovery recount allows the petitioner to access and review election materials, including ballots, to potentially prepare a case for the circuit courts, arguing that a full recount could alter the election results.

During the discovery recount, according to Gray, “each ballot is reviewed one at a time by precinct in categories cast on election day, early voting, vote by mail, late-arriving ballots by mail, provisionals, etc.” Then, all the ballots from the requested precincts are re-tabulated by precinct and compared to tapes of what was cast on election day. Gray says they’ll also look at applications to vote in all necessary categories and certification envelopes of ballots by mail.

Elections are still a paper-heavy process in the county, and therefore it’s hard to estimate how long the discovery recount will take. “This is obviously a much larger scale of discovery than we’ve ever accomplished here in Sangamon County,” said Gray. On Monday, a discovery recount in the Sangamon County Board race for District 25 involved two precincts. Gray says it took about an hour and a half to two hours per precinct to complete.

Investment of time, resources and personnel for the county is not the only cost for the discovery recount.  Gray says Langfelder paid a filing fee of $50 per precinct for the 41 precincts being reviewed.