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Roy Moore wants a recount, but it likely won’t happen
Several factors are going against him.
Roy Moore, who lost to Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate election on Tuesday night, implied that he would consider asking for a recount when he did not concede following the results of the election.
Speaking at his election party on Tuesday night, Moore–who multiple women have said engaged in sexual misconduct with them in the past, some of whom were minors at the time–said the race was “not over.”
“Thank you, you know, I really want to thank you for coming tonight and realize when the vote is this close that it’s not over,” he said. “We still got to go by the rules about this recount provision. The secretary of state has explained it to us.”
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Jones secured 49.9 percent of the vote and Moore gained 48.4 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ. An automatic recount is triggered when the vote tallies are within a half percentage point.
However, as the Washington Post points out, the likelihood of Moore getting his wish for a recount is unlikely.
Secretary of State of Alabama John Merrill spoke with CNN on Tuesday night and said it would be “highly unlikely” that Jones would not be certified as the winner of Tuesday’s election.
“There’s not a whole lot of mistakes that are made,” Merrill said.
While the state will still be counting outstanding ballots from voters serving in the military, it’s unlikely that the margin between the two candidates would shrink to the half percentage point threshold to force a recount. The Post reported that it appears only 8,700 Alabamians are serving in the military–meaning that even if every single service member voter for Moore, it would not swing the results enough for a recount.
Another possibility is Moore paying for a recount himself, however, Merrill suggested that its unlikely he would see a change in the results of the election and some legal scholars argue that federal law prohibits that.
Merrill has instructed provisional ballots, absentee ballots and military ballots to be sent to his office by Dec. 22. The results of the election are expected to be certified between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3, according to the Hill.
