After winning his primary election in a tight contest earlier this week, incumbent State Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford South) has asked the Delaware Commissioner of Elections to audit the results.
In the race for the Republican spot on the November general election ballot in the 36th Representative District, Rep. Shupe defeated Patrick Smith by 12 votes out of 2,302 cast ballots. Under Delaware election law, an automatic recount is conducted if the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percent. The margin in this race was 0.521%, just exceeding the legal threshold.
“I have a long history of supporting proposals to improve governmental accountability and increase transparency,” Rep. Shupe said. “Today, I learned from the Delaware Department of Elections that they could not conduct an audit unless a sitting state legislator requested it. I immediately made that request. Our citizens need to be confident in the integrity and accuracy of these results. Ever since the primary results were tallied, I have repeatedly and publicly expressed my support for an audit. I’ve made good on those statements with today’s action.”
Rep. Shupe added that if his primary victory is confirmed and he is fortunate enough to win again in November, he will introduce legislation in the upcoming 153rd General Assembly to raise the automatic recount margin-of-victory threshold.
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