FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 13, 2019) – All Kentucky county boards of elections will convene Thursday morning to recanvass the results of races of the November 5, 2019 General Election, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes announced Wednesday.
Secretary Grimes has invited Secretary-Elect Michael Adams to join her in her office on Thursday for the recanvass.
"I look forward to welcoming Secretary-Elect Adams to the office on Thursday," said Grimes. "I have conducted over 20 recanvasses in my 8 years as Secretary of State, it's a big and important part of the job and my hope is the 2020 Presidential Election will not be his first exposure to this process."
Grimes' office received a written request for recanvasses in the race for Governor/Lt. Governor. County boards of elections will convene at 9 a.m. on November 14 to recheck and recanvass the voting machines, per Kentucky law.
"My office has notified all county boards of elections, and we are reminding them of the laws and procedures to be followed," said Grimes. "As always, we will assist the county boards of elections in any way we can."
Unofficial totals show over 5,000 votes separate Governor Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear in the race for Governor/Lt. Governor. Governor Bevin requested the recanvass.
The purpose of a recanvass is to verify the accuracy of the vote totals reported from the voting machines. The county boards of election will notify the candidates of the location of the recanvass. Immediately upon completion of the recanvass, the boards will file their recanvass reports with the Secretary of State.
Results from the recanvass will be displayed at sos.ky.gov.
Each candidate and both political parties may have a representative present at the recanvass locations throughout the state, and the county board of elections shall authorize media to observe.
The Office conducted a recanvass as recent as 2018. The last statewide Kentucky election recanvass took place in 2016 in the Democratic presidential primary at the request of Bernie Sanders. The margin was fewer than 2,000 votes and the recanvass did not change the outcome of the election.