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Razor-thin race for Colorado House District 16 qualifies for a recount

By 11/15/2024 | updated 10 months ago

An especially tight race for Colorado House District 16, which came down to a mere seven-vote difference on Thursday, has qualified for an automatic recount, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker announced.

Final unofficial election results updated by Schleiker’s office at 8:23 p.m. show Republican challenger Rebecca Keltie, a Navy veteran, with a narrow 50.01% to 49.99% lead over Democratic incumbent Stephanie Vigil, who has served as the district’s representative for the last two years.

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There is a difference of only seven votes in the race — 20,640 for Keltie and 20,633 for Vigil.

Colorado law requires automatic recounts if the margin of victory in a race is equal to or less than 0.5% of the winner’s total. Automatic recounts must be completed within 31 days after the election.

Races will not be officially called until the Canvass Board certifies the original vote count on Nov. 27; recounts will then occur for qualifying contests.

“Once the Colorado Secretary of State issues the order for the recount, I will be reaching out to both parties, the candidates and their campaigns to keep them informed,” Schleiker said in an email Thursday night.

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In total, 387,297 ballots have been counted for just under 78% voter turnout, according to clerk’s data.

Schleiker released updated results Thursday after verifying additional ballots, including some that required extra steps to address issues like missing signatures or identification checks, as well as military and overseas ballots. The eight-day period for addressing these “cured” ballots and counting returned military and overseas ballots ended Wednesday night.

It was unclear Thursday exactly how many more ballots were counted, but Schleiker earlier this week estimated the number was in the hundreds.

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Additionally, in the tight race for Senate District 12 among two well-known politicians, Democrat Marc Snyder continued to lead Republican opponent Stan VanderWerf. Snyder garnered 48.90% of the vote while VanderWerf had 47.45%.

District 12, currently represented by outgoing Republican Sen. Bob Gardner, encompasses areas west of Colorado Springs, along with Manitou Springs and Fountain. The district is considered competitive, leaning 2% Republican.

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