ARAPAHOE COUNTY — Forty-three votes will prevent a recount in the Senate District 26 race, where Democrat Linda Newell has squeaked out a razor-thin victory over Republican opponent Lauri Clapp, election officials said Thursday.
Newell and Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty had believed the election would be headed to a recount, but a closer look at the results and state law led them to change their minds.
As of Thursday, results showed that Newell had 30,410 votes to Clapp’s 30,215, a difference of 195 votes. Doty had said the race was headed to a recount because Newell’s margin of victory was just 0.32 percent, and the state mandates a recount in elections where the margin of victory is half a percent or less.
But it turns out the law is slightly more complicated.
The law says a recount is mandatory only if the margin of victory “is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the highest vote cast in that election contest.” In other words, the difference had to be equal to or less than half a percent of Newell’s vote total — which would have been 152 votes.
With a 195-vote difference, Newell’s total was above the recount threshold at 0.64 percent.
