The Republican challenger to 7th District Democratic congressman Mike McIntyre has requested a recount. David Rouzer trails McIntyre by 655 votes, a number that's small enough for him to ask to have the ballots counted again. Now, all nine counties in the southwestern congressional district will start the process early next week. Gary Bartlett heads the State Board of Elections.
Gary Bartlett: "The paper ballot that's put through the tabulator. they will reinsert every ballot through the tabulator. They will also do the same thing with absentee mail absentees and the provisionals. They will tally and they will enter in their figures and send it up just like election day."
At the end of that process, if Rouzer has more votes, then McIntyre can request a manual recount of a random sample of ballots. After that there could be a manual count of the entire district. Counties in the 7th District are required to cover the costs of the recount.