Election season has not yet fully come to a close, with some contested races now being recounted.

Around 1:30 p.m. last Tuesday two Indiana State Police detectives visited the Brown County Law Enforcement Center to secure all election materials used in the general election, for a recount of the District 62 state house race, which was separated by only 40 votes.

Across the whole district, Republican Dave Hall received 12,990 votes with Democrat Penny Githens close behind with 12,950, according to the Nov. 29 count from the Office of the Secretary of State.

Hall originally was declared the winner by more than 1,000 votes before about 6,600 early voting ballots that had not yet been counted were added to the total.

In Brown County, Hall and Githens were separated by more than 2,000 votes: Hall accrued 4,204 and Githens received 2,189.

The seat represents all of Brown County, and some of Jackson and Monroe counties.

The recount was requested on Nov. 29 by the Monroe County Democratic Party (MCDP).

MCDP Chair David Henry said last week that the party filed a recount because the race was so close.

“After a hard-fought election, it is imperative that the voters know that every last lawful vote has been accounted for in the Indiana 62nd race. In such extremely close races, a recount is simply about exercising our candidate’s rights under the law and crossing every T and dotting every I,” Henry said in a statement released by the party on Monday announcing the decision.

The party is hopeful for a favorable recount for Githens.

A recount, Henry said, is part of the “natural and lawful” election process.

Hall declined to comment on the recount request when asked.

Papers were served by ISP at the Brown County Clerk’s Office, where County Clerk Kathy Smith contacted Brown County Election Board members Mark Williams and Kevin Fleming.

They all met with ISP in the LEC basement, where election materials are stored under lock and key.

Fleming, Smith and Williams gave their keys to the officers, per ISP order.

The order from the Indiana State Police said that all ballots and voting systems, all tally sheets and canvass sheets, all poll lists and electronic poll books and all election materials, records, or equipment must be immediately impounded by ISP.

During the recount process, the counters will travel between counties, but the ballots will not, the order said.

On Election Day ballots were sent through optical scanning machines for results. Per the MCDP request, ballots will be counted manually, being tallied by hand.

The request for a manual recount applies just to Monroe and Brown counties, which use paper ballots.

Williams said last week that he expects representatives of the Indiana State Board of Accounts and ISP to return and “take whatever action they intend to take.”

ISP took possession of all keys, locked the doors and padlocks. They then set police tape on the sealed door. Each day until the recount, an ISP officer visit the LEC to check that the police tape is not disturbed.

The officer will then sign their name and time the tape was checked.

Ballots in the LEC are in two large ballot bins. Those bins are each locked with two locks, the only keyholders being Williams and Fleming as the Republican and Democrat election board members.

Within the bins are ballots separated by Election Day ballots, counted provisional ballots, early voting ballots by precinct, and/or mailed-in absentee ballots, which are then all separated by precinct, Williams said.

Each of those (excluding provisional ballots) are in separate bags, which were sealed on Election Day.

It will be up to the SBOA under supervision of the recount commission to apply whatever process they intend to apply, Williams said.

“This is not an election contest, it’s a recount,” he said.

Williams said a location of the recount was unknown at this time, and that it is up to the recount commission and ISP.

As of Nov. 30, ISP had not yet taken physical possession of the materials, but have taken “exclusive access” to all materials, Williams said.

Williams said last week that there is no cost incurred for local governments in a recount, as it is borne by the party asking for the recount, which in this case is the MCDP.

The recount request will be handled by the Indiana State Recount Commission, which must complete the work no later than Dec. 20, according to state statute. That deadline can be extended by the commission if it finds good cause to do so.

The statute further requires that the next step would be for the commission to prepare two certified statements indicating the correct vote totals within seven days of the completion of the recount. One statement will be delivered to the winning candidate, while the other will be delivered to the presiding officer of the House in which the successful candidate is to be seated.