Request To Recount Ballots In Nevada County Clerk-Recorder Race Withdrawn Over Cost

TUOLUMNE COUNTY (CBS13) - The request to recount ballots cast in one Nevada County election has been halted.

Last week, veteran political adviser Randy Economy made the request to inspect and recount ballots on behalf of Nevada County Clerk-Recorder candidate Jason Tedder. Then, on Monday, he told CBS13 that he is halting the recount request. He told CBS13 "This has never been about the results, it's about the chain of custody and the way the election was handled."

Economy, who questions the legitimacy of mail-in ballots in general, said he wanted to review the signatures on the envelopes and compare them to the voter rolls. The only way to do that under California law was to request a recount.

In California, voters can request a recount for any reason, as long as they pay for it. The current clerk-recorder estimated it would take 38 days to hand-count roughly 1,000 ballots a day at the cost of more than $82,000.

Economy told CBS13 that he could not afford the $82,000 cost and will terminate his request at 4 p.m. Monday.