Poll workers crammed into the basement of the Dallas County Courthouse annex to make history yesterday, by being part of the first recount since 1979.

Eleven workers spent the better part of eight hours pushing the thousands of ballots from the November election into optical scanner machines as fast as the law would allow.

The recount was called because of the close election on Amendment 2, to remove racist language from the state constitution.

The last recount in Dallas County occurred in 1979, over a disputed tax assessor’s race.

On Nov. 2, the amendment failed by 1,850 votes out of 1.38 million cast statewide. The close vote – a margin of 0.13 percent – triggered the first statewide recount under a 2003 law that provides for a new tally when a ballot measure fails by less than one-half of a percentage point.

Probate Judge John Jones, chief election officer in Dallas, said he didn’t expect the count to change Dallas County’s numbers significantly.

“If there’s any changes, they’d be very minor,” he said. “A lot of them (voters) just didn’t vote on the amendment.”

Poll workers finished Dallas County’s portion of the recount yesterday afternoon.

Numbers regarding any potential changes were unavailable at presstime.

“We haven’t had any problems,” chief election officer Jimmy Elison said.

Poll workers were paid $73 a day. The county expects all expenses from the recount to be reimbursed by the state.