Challenger Ben Fuhriman defeats incumbent Julianne Young by four votes after recount

After a required state recount, Ben Fuhriman has defeated three-term incumbent Julianne Young by four votes in the District 30 B Representative race.

District 30 B involves Bingham and Butte Counties.

In the May Republican primary, the election night unofficial ballot count had Fuhriman winning by 10 votes, but when the vote in Butte County was canvased officially, it was found that the victory margin had shrunk to two votes.

Young had already decided to ask for a recount, which she would pay for. However, with the vote count difference narrowing to just two votes, the recount became an automatic requirement, which the state paid for.

The Secretary of State office had nine other recounts to conduct throughout the state, including five precinct committeeman races, two school levies and two county commissioner races involving Power, Canyon, Twin Falls, Owyhee and Butte Counties.

When the recount was held in Butte County, the votes shifted again. Fuhriman gained another vote and Young lost another vote. The final tally was 3,764 votes for challenger Fuhriman and 3,760 votes for incumbent Young. Butte County also had a recount for a county commissioner race which also saw a shift in votes, but didn’t change the outcome.

In the Power County recount, Jason Povey won the open commissioner seat by 3 votes over Robin Atkins. The recount didn’t change the originally canvased tally.

In fact, in all cases the original results stood true, even if a few votes shifted. Secretary of State Phil McGrane said that this affirms that Idaho elections are “accurate, secure and transparent.”

A lesser-known fact about voting oversight by the state is that every year one county is chosen randomly to have their voting procedures audited. After this election, Fremont County was chosen. Though Clerk Abbie Mace was nervous, never having had a vote audit before, the county was given a clean judgment and commendations.

While three or four votes are very slim margins of victories, there was a Gallatin County, Montana Treasurer race that ended up tied, even after a recount. In that case, instead of running another ballot that would cost the taxpayers extra — elections are expensive — one of the candidates withdrew and allowed the other to take the victory.

Lesson? Never underestimate the importance of each vote.