Arapahoe County will conduct recounts this week of two ballot questions and three contests for the 2017 Coordinated Election.
Clerk and Recorder Matt Crane ordered recounts for Bennett Fire Protection District No. 7 Ballot Issue 4D, Byers School District 32-J Ballot Question 3B and the City of Aurora Council Member At-Large Race. The margin in these contests met the statutory requirement for a mandatory recount. The respective jurisdictions will pay a prorated share of the cost of the recount.
In addition, Arapahoe County received requests for recounts from candidates in the City of Centennial Council Member District 4 race and City of Greenwood Village Council Member District 4 race. These contests were not close enough to meet the requirement for a mandatory recount. However, Colorado law permits a losing candidate to request a recount at his or her own expense, regardless of the margin. Charlette Fleming of Centennial and T.J. Gordon of Greenwood Village requested the recounts in their respective council member races, and also will pay a prorated share of recount costs.
The purpose of a recount is to re-tabulate the ballots. By law, a recount is required when the difference between the highest number of votes and the next highest number of votes cast is less than or equal to one-half of one percent (.50 percent) of the highest votes cast. If there is more than one person to be elected in a contest, such as a “Vote for Two”, a recount is required if the difference between the votes cast for the candidate who won the election with the least votes and the candidate who lost the election with the most votes is less than or equal to one-half of one percent (.50 percent) of the votes cast for the candidate who won the election with the least votes.
By law, the recount could not take place until after the election results were examined and certified last Tuesday by the Board of Canvassers. Official results are available at www.arapahoevotes.com under ‘2017 Election.’ To view multi-county contests, click on “Statewide Results” on the top red index.
Byers School District 32-J Ballot Issue 3B was evenly tied with 258 ‘Yes’ and 258 ‘No’ votes. Bennett Fire Protection Ballot Issue 4D had a 4-vote margin with 877 ‘Yes’ and 874 ‘No’ votes, which qualified for mandatory recount at .47 percent of the number of ‘Yes’ votes.
In the City of Aurora Council Member At-Large contest, which was a ‘Vote for Two’ race, the margin between candidates Dave Gruber and Tom Tobiassen was 47 votes. This margin qualified for mandatory recount at .35 percent of Gruber’s votes.
In the City of Centennial Council Member District 4 race, the margin between candidates Marlo Alston and Charlette Fleming was 14 votes, which was higher than the statutory requirement for recount at .85 percent of Alston’s votes.
In the City of Greenwood Village Council Member District 4 race, which was a ‘Vote for Two’ race, the margin between candidates Thomas Dougherty and T.J. Gordon and was 3 votes, slightly higher than the statutory requirement for recount at .57 percent of Dougherty’s votes.
The Elections Division will conduct a mandatory test of its scanning equipment at 1 p.m. today, and will begin the recount at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Election workers will re-scan all of the ballots cast in the 2017 Coordinated Election, because ballots are not stored in order of district or precinct. Teams of trained bipartisan judges will review ballots with unclear markings and determine voter intent in accordance with Colorado Election Rule. Results will be tabulated only for the races and questions undergoing a recount. If necessary, the Arapahoe County Board of Canvassers will amend the official election results for any race or question.
Because the City of Aurora, Byers School District and Bennett Fire Protection District include portions of other counties, Arapahoe County coordinated with Adams and Douglas Counties to schedule the recount proceedings.
For more information about election results or recounts in Arapahoe County, please call 303-795-4511.
###