She tied, she lost, she won!
Recount decides victor
OWOSSO
THE FLINT JOURNAL SECOND EDITION
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
By Linda Angelo
langelo@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6340

OWOSSO - Cedar Point's Millennium Force is no match for the ride Lisa Hood and Daniel Comrie have endured for the past two weeks.

But it finally screeched to a halt Monday when a recount declared Hood - who lost a tiebreaker drawing last week - the winner in the Board of Education race.

"It's been very tense emotionally," said Hood, who won the race by two votes and will take office

next month. "I'm very excited and honored."

The stay-at-home mom won the election with 608 votes while Comrie, a pilot with Northwest Airlines, received 606 votes. Hood picked up two votes in Rush Township's Precinct 5, where ballots were counted by hand.

Shiawassee County Clerk Lauri L. Braid said she believes "human error" caused the problem.

"This doesn't happen very often, ... and we have this process for when it's that close," she said.

The recount showed discrepancies in precincts where voters used optical scan voting machines.

In the past two weeks:

Hood and Comrie learned on election night that the election had ended in a tie.

Just before a drawing to break the tie, the two learned two absentee ballots had not been counted.

Once the absentee ballots were counted, the tie remained.

Comrie pulled the "elected" piece of paper from a jar at the drawing.

Hood then asked for a recount.

Comrie said the nail-biter matchup taught him that every vote counts.

"I'm happy for Lisa," Comrie said as he left Owosso City Hall. "She won the office knowing she won the election and not a drawing."

David Hood, Lisa's husband, watched the Board of Canvassers recount the ballots. He said he feels excited for his family and glad the election is done.

"We've felt the full gamut of emotions," he said.