Don’t count on recounts changing the Election Day results.
Today’s case in point: South Dakota’s District 25 House race. In one of the few non-losing results for Democrats on Election Night, former legislator Dan Ahlers squeezed past sitting Rep. Roger Hunt by 33 votes to claim second place (still with 15% fewer votes that rookie Trumpist Tom Pischke won for first).
Ahlers’s 0.16 percentage point margin of victory was well within the statutory two-percent margin (SDCL 12-21-10) allowing a recount, and Rep. Hunt called for that recount. According to Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz, Ahlers lost nine votes, but Hunt lost twelve. The recount thus expands Ahlers’s margin over Hunt by three votes.
According to another source, election workers at one precinct may have run a handful of ballots through the counting machine twice.
Can’t blame Roger Hunt for requesting a recount. He led that race till the last votes were counted and probably went to bed after midnight thinking he won. Congratulations to Dan Ahlers! He’s a hard working legislator – often the first to arrive at the capital in the morning and last to leave at night – and a real watchdog for the public. Besides that he’s a great guy. Republicans would agree with that.
Roger Hunt OUT? Finally? WOW. And Hallelujah!
I am so glad Dan is again the SD Legislature. His support for people with disabilities and the agencies that support them is an important reason from my perspective.