With lower-than-usual voter turnout in Wyoming’s primary election on Tuesday, several legislative contests came down to very few votes.
Fifty or fewer votes decided five House races, including northeast Cheyenne’s House District 9, where Rep. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) defeated challenger Exie Brown by 17 votes, according to the complete but unofficial election results.
In the Senate, a closely watched central-Casper contest between Sen. Jim Anderson (R-Casper) and challenger Bryce Reece for Senate District 28 was decided in the incumbent’s favor by 30 votes.
The closest race came down to seven votes.
That was between Kevin Campbell and Edis Allen in House District 62 — which spans a portion of southeastern Natrona County and the western half of Converse County. The seat is currently represented by Rep. Forrest Chadwick (R-Evansville), who did not seek reelection.
The margin was small enough to elicit a recount, which is required by state law when the margin between the top two candidates is less than 1%.
Converse County conducted its recount Wednesday afternoon, while Natrona County did so Thursday morning. Both counties produced identical results to Tuesday — 794 to 787. Ultimately, Campbell prevailed.
Malcolm Ervin, Platte County clerk and president of the County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming, said he was unaware of any other recounts occurring in legislative contests.
Joe Rubino, general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, told WyoFile HD 62 was the only legislative contest with a small enough margin to qualify for an automatic recount. Rubino did not say whether any statehouse candidates had requested a recount.
Legislative candidates may request a recount, according to state law, but must do so no later than two days after the state canvassing board has certified the results, which is set to occur Aug. 28.
By law, the requester foots the bill for the recount, unless the recount changes the election outcome.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
