Press release from the campaign of Vermont Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Racine (here):
RICHMOND, VT – Doug Racine, candidate for governor, today announced that he will request a recount of the gubernatorial primary election results. The Vermont Secretary of State today released the unofficial certified results, which showed Racine behind fellow candidate Peter Shumlin by fewer than 200 votes. Racine held a press conference at the Richmond Town Center this afternoon to announce his decision.
“I’ve just spoken with Peter, and I told him I would be requesting a recount,” Racine announced. “Peter said he would support my decision.” Racine explained that the results of fewer than 200 votes separating him and Shumlin with well over 70,000 ballots counted amounted to a 1/4 of 1% difference. “That is less than 1 vote per town,” Racine commented.
He added that the he has spoken to and heard from hundreds of supporters in the past few days and the overwhelming sentiment was that a recount was necessary. “I owe it to them and to Vermonters to be sure this is the correct outcome.” Racine also noted that he has spoken to a few town clerks, who urged him to call for the recount.
Racine stressed that he would do everything he can to expedite the recount process, and in the meantime, he would urge his supporters to get involved in the Vermont Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign.
Racine noted that while he knows the odds are against a different outcome, we need to know for sure. “In the end, this is about our democratic process. Every Vermonter deserves to know that his or her vote was counted correctly.”
View a video of the press conference via Blurt (7Days staff blog), here.
Update: View unofficial vote count from the Secretary of State’s office (via vtdigger; PDF version), Uncertified primary vote count for the Democratic gubernatorial primary Aug. 26.