The votes were certified Friday night after the recount.
Bush, who was defeated for a spot on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council by an original vote count of 615 votes to 624 votes, asked for the recount by the tribal election commission on June 27, and paid the $1,500 fee for the recount.
The tribal election services staff said the cost of the recount was $750 per district, which was $750 for District 3, where Bush was running for Council Seat 1, and $750 for absentee votes.
Wanda Beaver, Cherokee Elections Commission office manager, said the election commission was required, by tribal law, to certify the election results by 5 p.m. Friday, but Beaver said the recount make take longer than that.
The recount allows Thornton to serve his third four-year term on the tribal council.
Cherokee voters cast their ballots on the same type of computer voting machines as are used in all Oklahoma elections, in which the machines count the ballots. But Beaver said the election commission members counted the ballots by hand Friday.
Traditionally, recounts of the computer-tabulated ballots have not changed or only slightly changed the vote total.
Patsy Eads Morton of Stilwell is the chairman of the election commission and was present for the recount, Beaver said.
