The November election is just around the corner. Yet, there are still looming concerns with what happened with the primary election. Is District Attorney Christopher Hicks’ office making the situation better or worse? One example is Deputy DA Kandaras telling elections activists like Robert Beadles, Drew Rebar, and others that press would not be allowed in the recount area to witness the primary vote recount. She even got an attitude stating if they didn’t like it they could just sue the County. Why a public employee purposely antagonize and encourage tax payers to sue the same government they’re supposed to be acting in the best interest of? Has she forgotten her civic duty and mistaken her position for a private firm or been blinded by her personal feelings? When the public was notified of her behavior, Kandaras stood down and allowed the media in the area hours after the recount process had already begun. This does nothing but add fuel to the fire of those who are questioning the integrity of the election by giving them more to call into question. DA Hicks’ office charged over $152,000 to recount three of races in question. The whole point was to recount the ballots by hand. Instead they used the same machines, yielding the exact same results that were being challenged. So what was the $152,000 charge for? In July 2024, Deputy DA Edwards advised the Commissioners to vote their conscience on whether or not to approve the results of recount. Vice Chair Herman, Andriola and Clark voted not to certify the results. DA Kandaras stepped in again and told the Commissioners they had no choice, contradicting Edwards. Commissioners then changed their vote, with Clark publicly stating he was doing so under extreme duress or face being criminally prosecuted, fined, and removed from office if he did not certify the recount results. We spoke to voters who didn’t have any previous election concerns, who now do. They didn’t care about the recount either way, but seeing the actions of DA Hicks’ office, they now have concerns and wonder why are they fighting it so hard? Wouldn’t it be easier to just do a basic recount? Or is there something more at play here?