Neupert Will Not Seek Hand Recount of Ballots in Floyd County Supervisor Race

Josh Neupert, who finished just two votes behind apparent winner, Frank Rottinghaus, in the race for the District 2 seat on the Floyd County Board of Supervisors, says he will not seek a hand count of the absentee ballots.

Unofficial results from last Tuesday’s (09.23) special election had the Democrat Rottinghaus edging out the Republican Neupert by 275 votes to 273 votes. Of the 705 total votes cast by District 2 voters, 154 were absentee ballots, with 76 of those to Rottinghaus and 52 to Neupert. Independent candidates Aaron  Hobert and Doug Lindaman received 17 and 8 absentee votes respectively. 

During a special meeting Thursday (09.25) morning, County Auditor Morrigan Montagne asked Supervisors to approve an administrative audit of the absentee votes after ballots on Tuesday were mistakenly tabulated in “test” mode rather than “election day” mode.

By Thursday afternoon, Montagne announced the post-election audit and the administrative audit by the Board of the Special Precinct were completed, with results matching the reported election outcomes. That post-election audit also included a hand-count of ballots from the precinct voting at Trinity United Methodist Church to verify the accuracy of the County’s vote tabulation system.

Friday (09.26) on his Josh Neupert District 2 Supervisor Facebook page, Neupert posted, “The votes have gone through the recounts required by the state and they didn’t change. After having the evening to reflect I feel it is in the best interest to the county to move forward. I reached out to the auditor and informed her that I do not wish to ask for a hand count of the absentee ballots. Her team has been tremendous through the process and I see no reason to waste any additional resources as the results seem solid.”

Montagne says results are still not official until a canvass is completed by the Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled for 10 am Tuesday (09.30) morning. If the results stand, Rottinghaus will take over the seat that opened up with the death of former District 2 Supervisor Dennis Keifer in June. Rottinghaus will serve out the remainder of Keifer’s term, which runs until the end of 2026.