Johnson wins Adams Central board election by two votes

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - The Adams Central school board election is final after a state-mandated recount a month after the general election.

Adams County Clerk/Election Commissioner Ramona Thomas said incumbent David Johnson beat fellow incumbent Greg Mucklow by two votes, 1,222 to 1,220.

Election officials in Adams and Clay counties recounted the votes in that race Wednesday.

Four candidates were running for three seats on the board, including incumbents David Johnson, Greg Mucklow, Tim O’Dey and challenger Derek Uhrmacher.

The boundaries of the Adams Central school district include property in Adams, Clay, Hall, Kearney and Webster counties. There were no votes cast for the Adams Central race in Hall, Kearney or Webster counties. The Adams and Clay county clerks said they certified the results last month in their respective counties. So the official totals before the recount for those two counties combined show O’Dey (1,479) and Uhrmacher (1,316) with the most votes for two of those seats. But for the third seat, Johnson (1,223) had only three more votes than Mucklow (1,220).

The recount reduced the margin in favor of Johnson to two votes over Mucklow.

State law requires an automatic recount whenever the margin of votes separating two candidates is less than 1% of the number of votes cast for the leading candidate.