Office of Kentucky Secretary of State
May 24, 2016
Bradford Queen

Sanders Requests Recanvass in Ky. Democratic Presidential Primary

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.

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Office of Kentucky Secretary of State
May 26, 2016
Bradford Queen

Ky. Democratic Presidential Primary Recanvass Complete, Outcome Unchanged

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 26, 2016) – Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky’s chief election official, today announced that a statewide recanvass of the votes was conducted in the May 17 Democratic Presidential primary election and the results did not change the outcome of the election. The results remain unchanged from the totals certified by county boards of elections to the Secretary of State last week, as required by law.

Pursuant to a request from Bernie Sanders, a Democratic candidate for President, each of Kentucky’s 120 county boards of elections convened at 9 a.m. today to recheck and recanvass each voting machine. The results were certified to the Secretary of State’s office.

"I’m grateful to our county boards of elections for their work today. Their efforts help ensure confidence in the Primary Election results for both candidates and the electorate," said Grimes. "The recanvass results did not alter the outcome of the election."

According to both previously reported vote totals and the recanvass results, Hillary Clinton received more votes than Sanders in the Democratic primary.

On election night, unofficial results indicated that Clinton led Sanders by a margin of 1,924 votes. Counties later certified and reported results to the Secretary of State's office as required by law, showing a difference of 1,911 votes with 212,534 votes for Clinton and 210,623 votes for Sanders. The 13 vote difference was due to provisional votes, and a discrepancy in absentee ballot totals in two counties. Today's recanvass results are consistent with the totals certified to the Secretary of State's office last week as required by law.

Per Kentucky law, the results of the recanvass shall become the official returns of each county. County-by-county results of the recanvasses are available at the Kentucky elections one-stop site, GoVoteKY.com.

A recanvass was also conducted in a tight race in the Republican primary for State Senate, 33rd District. John Yuen, who requested the recanvass, trailed his opponent, Shenita Rickman, by 38 votes. The recanvass did not change the results and outcome of the primary.

Today's recanvass marked the eighth Grimes has overseen as Secretary of State. Last year, she presided over a statewide recanvass in a close Republican primary for Kentucky governor with a margin of 83 votes. Historically, while recanvasses may have resulted in minor changes in the vote totals, they have never changed the outcome of elections.

Grimes, chair of the State Board of Elections, has called a meeting of the State Board of Elections on May 31 to certify the results of the Primary Election. All vote totals remain unofficial until the Board issues certificates of nomination next week.

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