Don't count on a recount to change the winner in close elections this fall. They rarely do
With the American electorate so evenly divided, there will be elections in November so close that officials will have to recount the votes
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the American electorate so evenly divided, there will be elections in November close enough that officials will have to recount the votes. Just don’t expect those recounts to change the winner. They rarely do, even when the margins are tiny.
“The (original) count is pretty accurate because the machines work — they work very well,” said Tammy Patrick, a former election official in Arizona who is now with the National Association of Election Officials. “We have recounts and we have audits to make sure we got it right.”
There have been 36 recounts in statewide general elections since America’s most famous recount in 2000. That year, Republican George W. Bush maintained his lead over Democrat Al Gore in Florida — and won the presidency — after a recount was stopped by the Supreme Court.
Since then, only three of those statewide recounts resulted in a new winner, and all three were decided by hundreds of votes, not thousands. That's according to an Associated Press review of statewide recounts using data from the AP vote count, state election offices and research by FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that researches elections and advocates for changes in the way elections are conducted.
