Olcott withdraws request for recount in Texas House District 60 Republican race; Rogers’ nomination confirmed
By Carla McKeown and Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan
Mike Olcott, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Texas House of Representatives District 60, has withdrawn his request for a recount of the runoff ballots in Palo Pinto County.
In a handwritten letter that was notarized earlier today, Tuesday, June 21, and obtained by the Mineral Wells Area News, Olcott acknowledged that the results of the canvass are official. The withdrawal clears the way for incumbent Glenn Rogers to become the Republican nominee for the office in the November election. Since there are no challengers on the Democratic side, Rogers will most likely become re-elected to the position unless there is a challenge from a write-in candidate.
Olcott requested the recount after the runoff election results in Parker County were amended the day after the election. On the runoff election night, the original vote totals for all of District 60, which includes Stephens, Parker and Palo Pinto counties, showed Rogers, the incumbent, had won by 752 votes. However, the vote count in Parker County increased by about 2,000 votes on the Wednesday after Election Day, when it was discovered that, as a result of a human error, some votes were not tabulated on election night in that county. When the additional votes were tabulated in Parker County, Rogers’ lead dropped to a little more than 300 votes. Click here to read more about the issue in Parker County, as well as the recount process.
The recount required that the ballots in all three counties be recounted. The Stephens County recount took place on June 8 and exactly matched the results from the electronic tabulation that were posted on Election Night, confirming that, locally, Rogers received 731 votes and Olcott received 284 for a difference of 447 votes. The Parker County recount took place on June 9 and 10 and, likewise, was the same as the Election Night results.
The Palo Pinto County recount was scheduled for today and was already underway when Olcott withdrew his request, according to the MWAN. Sources told the MWAN that Olcott conceded before the recount in Palo Pinto Pinto was completed.
“I am so proud of the volunteers, election workers, and the county Republican Chairpersons, who did everything they could to make the past month an honest, transparent, and efficient process,” Rogers said in a news release Wednesday morning. “I also cannot be more grateful to the representatives from the Secretary of State’s Office who made the trip down to help facilitate the recount fairly.”
Click here to read the full news release from Glenn Rogers.
The May 24 runoff was held after neither Rogers or Olcott, received more than 50 percent of the vote in the March 1 primary.
Amy Bearden with the Mineral Wells Area News contributed to this story.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Monday, June 27, to add the comment by Glenn Rogers, as well as a link to the news release he sent out.
Make sure you don’t miss any of the Breckenridge Texan’s news…click here to sign up for our email newsletter, the Weekly News Roundup. It has links to stories, photo galleries and more! It’s free to sign up, and it comes to you on Monday mornings (sometimes on Tuesdays after a holiday).
