FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The results of Kentucky's recanvass did not change the outcome of the governor's race.
"Attorney General Beshear will be the 63rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky," said Secretary of State Alison Lundergan-Grimes.
On Thursday, election officials spent hours re-checking the official number of votes. The Office of the Secretary of State received vote totals from all 120 counties in Kentucky and compared them to the certified results received last Friday, which are different than the numbers on election night.
During this process, Lundergan-Grimes says only one vote was changed in the official count, and it was not for Gov. Matt Bevin nor Andy Beshear.
"There have been no changes in the official vote totals versus the recanvass totals today for Governor Bevin or General Beshear," said Lundgeran-Grimes. "There has been only one change and that was for Mr. Whyte. There was one vote that was added in Casey County."
However, when it comes to the unofficial election night numbers, several changes were made. The Secretary of State says eight counties had errors in their unofficial counts. However, she says while those results were being certified by the local board of elections, the errors were fixed. So the issues were resolved before the recanvass began.
Those counties are:
- Anderson County
- Daviess County
- Elliott County
- Jefferson County
- Logan County
- Nelson County
- Rowan County
- Casey County
The Secretary of State says the errors in the unofficial count range from absentee ballots not being uploaded on election night in Anderson County and Logan County, to miscounts of votes for write-in candidates in Daviess County and Rowan County. She says military ballots were not uploaded on election night in Jefferson County and a precinct tape was misread in Elliott County. In Nelson County, Lundergan-Grimes says an absentee ballot, which should have been counted, was not counted and a write-in vote was missed in Casey County.
However, Lundergan-Grimes says these are human errors.
"Our elections are run by humans, and you have to understand (we have) 15,000 precinct election officers, 120 county board of elections," said Lundergan-Grimes. "What we saw today is typical for the election administration process. By no means is there any vast conspiracy to hurt one candidate or party."
Secretary of State-elect Michael Adams was also in the recanvass room. He reassured voters that the process was carried out correctly.
“I’m very satisfied. I want to reassure all Kentuckians that this is being done by the book," said Adams. "I especially want to reassure supporters of the governor - I’m one of them - this is being done correctly and by the book.”
The Secretary of State says the recanvass showed Beshear winning by 5,136 votes.
