Recount continues in Kennesaw City Council race

KENNESAW, Ga - Kennesaw city leaders heard from the county elections' director Monday night after an election mistake that impacted Kennesaw's city council race.

Cobb County Elections Director Janine Eveler explained a memory card filled with votes from a precinct was not uploaded until after the election results were certified early last week. 

When the error was discovered, and those votes were tallied, it changed who won the city council race.

Instead of Madelyn Orochena winning by 16 votes. Lynette Burnette won by 31 votes.

The city council post has been vacant since Doc Eaton resigned in June.

Eaton was upset the city gave the new owner of Wildman's Civil War shop a new business license.

The shop on Main Street is filled with rebel flags and KKK materials that Eaton calls morally wrong and says hurts development.

Madelyn Orochena also spoke out against the shop, and says that is one of the reasons she wanted to run for city council.

After winning the election, then being told, after the votes on the memory card were tallied and showed she lost the race, she demanded a recount.

It is the largest recount the county has ever had.

"Even though it's a city council race we have to scan every advanced ballot, so it's 181-thousand or so ballots," said Eveler.

That's a lot of ballots, and even though they are using high-speed scanners, it takes a lot of time.

The recount started at noon Sunday and went until 9 p.m. then resumed Monday morning at 9 a.m. through Monday evening.

"We want to be extra careful going forward and we have to be methodical about it. Whatever time it takes we have to take that time," said Eveler.

Once the recount is complete, if the numbers are off, even by one, they will have to re-certify the results.