NEWS RELEASE
FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 24, 2016) – Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has requested a statewide recanvass of the results of the May 17 Democratic primary for President, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes announced. She received the written request from Sanders’ campaign today. Unofficial vote totals indicate Sanders trails opponent Hillary Clinton by less than 2,000 votes.
“My office is notifying all county boards of elections that Sen. Sanders has requested a recanvass, and we are reminding them of the laws and procedures to be followed,” said Grimes. “As always, we will assist the county boards of elections in any way we can.”
The purpose of a recanvass is to verify the accuracy of the vote totals reported from the voting machines. County boards of elections will convene at 9 a.m. local time on May 26 to recheck and recanvass the voting machines, per Kentucky law. The boards will notify the candidates of the location of the recanvass. Immediately upon completion of the recanvass, the boards will file their recanvass reports with the Secretary of State.
Each candidate and both political parties may have a representative present at the recanvass, and the county board of elections shall authorize media to observe.
In addition to the Democratic presidential primary, the Jefferson County Board of Elections will also recanvass the results in the Republican primary for State Senate, 33rd District, at the request of candidate John Yuen who trails his opponent, Shenita Rickman, in unofficial totals.
The deadline to submit a recanvass request in a Primary Election race is today, May 24, at 4 p.m. ET.
The last statewide recanvass was conducted last year in the Republican Gubernatorial primary at the request of James Comer/Chris McDaniel, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The margin was 83 votes and the recanvass did not change the results or outcome of the election.