Vote recount goes smoothly and quickly

The quick recount of the votes in the state representative primary for the 157th district, which takes in parts of Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, is a confidence builder all around. We add our congratulations to those already extended to Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller and his Perry County counterpart, Randy Taylor, for their job well done.

There had been some talk, prior to the tedious hand tally, that a recount might be a time-consuming process that could even take weeks.

Instead, the two-county recount was finished in a day. An official from Secretary of State Matt Blunt's office watched and participated. Blunt had ordered the recount at the behest of candidate Donna Lichtenegger, who fell short by a scant 24 votes when the votes were first counted after the Aug. 6 primary election.

The official recount added one vote to the victory margin of winner Scott Lipke of Jackson, who is now certified as the Republican nominee. Lipke will face Democrat Chuck Miller of rural Cape Girardeau County in the November election.

The process of running fair elections and guaranteeing honest results doesn't always run so smoothly. This we saw two years ago, both here in Missouri and, more famously, in Florida.

After the Florida fiasco of November 2000, one might have thought officials there would get their acts together. But the primary held there just two days ago has resulted in still more chaos, with results reverberating in national news this week.

This just emphasizes the good job done by Randy Taylor, Rodney Miller and their staffs. Again, our congratulations and thanks.