Ohio’s 12th Congressional District candidate Melanie Leneghan, R-Powell, filed an application Wednesday with the Franklin County Board of Elections requesting a recount of the May 8 Republican primary in certain precincts of Delaware, Franklin, Licking and Muskingum counties.

“We have not conceded the race, and we’ll take a look at everything once the final count is made,” Leneghan told The Gazette the day after the May 8 primary election. “Muskingum County wasn’t in line with the other counties.”

Leneghan trailed the winner of the Republican primary Troy Balderson, R-Zanesville, by one percentage point for both the August special election and the November general election.

In a phone interview Friday, Leneghan said she would send out a press release, but currently, she and her team are waiting on the individual county’s board of elections to schedule the recounts. She said her understanding is that the counties will perform the recounts all on the same day.

“We have teams to observe multiple counties,” she said. “The process is very difficult, making it hard for my teams to observe everything.”

Leneghan commented the day after the primary election that she was suspicious of Muskingum County’s vote count. Balderson lives in Muskingum County.

Leneghan was the second-highest vote-getter in Muskingum County, receiving 11 percent of the votes, while the rest of the field scored in the single digits or lower. Balderson ended up receiving 80 percent of the votes in a 10-candidate field.

Leneghan, like Balderson, won her home county of Delaware with 32 percent of the vote, while Balderson only received 20 percent in the 10-candidate field.

Leneghan placed a $2,880 deposit with the Franklin County Board of Elections requesting a recount for all the candidates for the Republican nomination as representative to the 12th Congressional District as pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3515. Her request is only for the full congressional term nomination for the Nov. 6 general election.

Leneghan’s request canvasses five precincts in Delaware County, 21 precincts in Franklin County, six precincts in Licking County, and 16 precincts in Muskingum County.

Delaware County Board of Elections Director Karla Herron said the Franklin County BOE is in charge of coordinating the day and times the other boards will hold recounts.

“All the boards will start the recount at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning (June 6), but it might take a couple of days,” said Jeff Mackey, Franklin County Board of Elections operations manager.