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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- The recount of the vote to determine the winner of the District 47 Senate seat moved ahead Tuesday morning.

The Wapello County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the recount requested by incumbent State Senator Keith Kreiman.

Kreiman, a Bloomfield Democrat, found himself 12 votes behind Republican challenger Mark Chelgren after the November 2 vote was officially canvassed.

The recount will be conducted by a three-person panel. Each candidate gets to select a representative to sit on the panel. The third member must be approved by both candidates.

Wapello County Auditor Kelly Spurgeon said that as of Tuesday morning, the candidates had each selected their representative, but that there had not been an agreement on the third member of the panel

If the candidates cannot agree by Thursday, the selection will be left up to a judge.

Spurgeon told the supervisors that the candidates seemed to be leaning toward a machine recount, rather than a hand recount.

However, a machine recount could take some time, as each ballot must be run through the same machine that was originally used to cast the ballot.

Spurgeon acknowledged that a second recount is a possibility, and that it may be some time before a winner is actually selected.