DENVER (KDVR) — It’s official: A recount has been ordered in the race for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, where challenger Adam Frisch has conceded the race to Lauren Boebert with just hundreds of votes separating the two.
The incumbent representative Boebert leads by just 550 votes. Colorado law says a recount will automatically happen if the difference in votes between the two candidates is less than 0.5% of the winner’s total.
“The results of the District 3 race reinforce the fact that every vote matters,” Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement announcing the recount. “Colorado voters have made their voices heard, and I am ordering this recount in accordance with Colorado law to confirm the will of the voters.”
While Boebert’s lead is razor-thin, the FOX31 Data Desk found that a recount is unlikely to change the outcome.
Recounts are themselves exceptionally rare, and outcomes are only reversed when the candidates were within a few hundred votes of each other in the original count, according to a FairVote analysis of statewide and national races from all 50 states between 2010 and 2019.
What happens next in the Boebert-Frisch recount?
The 27 counties involved in the recount are ordered to do a logic and accuracy test on the tabulation equipment, and they will do the work “with their bipartisan canvass boards,” according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Then, they will rescan the ballots.
The counties are required to recount ballots in the same way they were handled during the election, according to the office. San Juan County will do a manual recount.
The recount is to be finished by Dec. 13, as required by law.
House District 3 includes 26 counties and part of Eagle County. The 26 counties include: Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Delta, Dolores, Garfield, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Huerfano, La Plata, Las Animas, Mesa, Mineral, Moffat, Montezuma, Montrose, Otero, Ouray, Pitkin, Pueblo, Rio Blanco, Rio Grande, San Juan, San Miguel and Saguache.