Colorado Secretary of State’s Office Announces Permissive 2022 General Election Recount

Denver, December 8, 2022 - The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office received and accepted the required funds for a permissive recount of the Colorado House District 43 race in Douglas County between Robert “Bob” Marshall and Kurt Huffman on December 7.

Douglas County has been notified to begin preparations to proceed with a recount for this race, which must be completed by Thursday, December 15th, 2022, as required by statute.

Uncertified results for House District 43 show 22,877 ballots cast for Candidate Marshall – 50.45% of the total vote for the race – and 22,472 ballots cast for candidate Huffman – 49.55% of the total vote for the race. These totals fall outside of the margin for a mandatory recount.

The permissive recount was requested by candidate Huffman on December 5. The Secretary of State’s Office requested an estimate from Douglas County for the cost of the recount and provided it to candidate Huffman on December 6. The cost estimate provided to candidate Huffman was $738. Candidate Huffman submitted a $1,000 check to the Colorado Department of State on December 7. The recount order to Douglas County was sent on December 8. Any unused funds will be refunded to the candidate.

Per candidate Huffman’s request, the recount will be conducted via readjudication, meaning only ballots that required adjudication in the initial tabulation will be examined in the recount. This approach, which is specified in Election Rule 10.9.2, calls for the county’s bipartisan election judges to reexamine all of the ballots which required human adjudication during the initial tabulation of votes and recheck to ensure that those human adjudications were accurate. Candidate Huffman had the option under Election Rule 10.9.3 to request a recount by means of a re-scanning of all of the ballots, but he has elected to request, and pay for, a recount by means of readjudication..

On Friday, November 18, Colorado began the statewide bipartisan Risk-Limiting Audit (RLA) – a post-election audit that gives a statistical level of confidence that the outcome of an election is correct. Bipartisan county audit boards successfully completed the audit on November 22. The reported winner in all the audited races was confirmed. The race for House District 43 was not among the audited contests in Douglas County.

To view the recount order, click here.

Election Rules Governing Recounts in Colorado:

10.9.2 A county that has successfully completed a comparison audit under Rule 25.2 and reported no discrepancies in the recount contest need not re-scan ballots during a recount, except as provided in Rule 10.9.3. In all cases, the county must re-adjudicate ballot images for voter intent in accordance with Rule 10.13.3.

10.9.3 The losing candidate with the most votes, or an interested party as defined in section 110.5-106, C.R.S., may request that the county re-scan ballots. The request is due no later than the day after the deadline to order a mandatory recount or the day after the deadline to request a recount, whichever is applicable. 

Statute Governing Election Recounts in Colorado: C.R.S. 1-10.5-106

(1) As used in this section, “interested party” means the candidate who lost the election, the political party or political organization of such candidate, any petition representative identified pursuant to section 1-40-113 for a ballot issue or ballot question that did not pass at the election, the governing body that referred a ballot question or ballot issue to the electorate if such ballot question or ballot issue did not pass at the election, or the agent of an issue committee that is required to report contributions pursuant to the “Fair Campaign Practices Act”, article 45 of this title, that either supported a ballot question or ballot issue that did not pass at the election or opposed a ballot question or ballot issue that passed at the election.

(2) Whenever a recount is not required, an interested party may submit a notarized written request for recount at the expense of the interested party making the request. This request shall be filed with the secretary of state, the county clerk and recorder, the designated election official, or other governing body that originally certified the candidate, ballot question, or ballot issue for the ballot within twenty-eight days after any primary, general, or coordinated election.

Such election official shall notify the political subdivision within which the election was held no later than the day following receipt of the request.

Before conducting the recount, the election official who will conduct the recount shall determine the cost of the recount within one day of receiving the request to recount, notify the interested party that requested the recount of the cost, and collect the costs of conducting the recount. If the request is filed with the secretary of state, the secretary of state shall determine the cost of the recount by adding the individual amounts determined by the political subdivisions conducting the recount.

The interested party that requested the recount shall pay the cost of the recount by certified funds to the election official with whom the request for a recount was filed within one day of receiving the election official’s cost determination.

The funds shall be placed in escrow for payment of all expenses incurred in the recount. If after the recount the result of the election is reversed in favor of the interested party that requested the recount or if the amended election count is such that a recount otherwise would have been required, the payment for expenses shall be refunded to the interested party that requested the recount.

Any escrow amounts not refunded to the interested party that requested the recount shall be paid to the election officials who conducted the recount.

Any recount of votes pursuant to this section shall be completed no later than the thirty-seventh day after any primary, general, or coordinated election.