ST. GEORGE — With just seven votes between the candidates in the House District 72 race, a recount has been called.
Prior to the official vote canvas for local and state Republican primary races being approved Tuesday by the Washington County Commission, House District 72 candidate Willie Billings sent a letter to Washington County Clerk/Auditor Susan Lewis requesting a recount in that race’s razor-thin outcome.
“I am requesting a recount, manual by hand is preferred, of the Utah State House of Representatives election for House District 72,” Billings wrote in the letter to Lewis. “Where the results are within the required percentage, and the lack of confidence by the vast majority of voters in our jurisdiction, I believe this is a great opportunity to restore faith in our local elections by hand recounting to verify the results produced by the machines.”
Billings delivered the letter prior to the County Commission canvassing the vote totals Tuesday afternoon.
According to the official numbers, fellow House 72 candidate Joseph Elison won the election with 4,131 votes to Billings’ 4,124 votes.
As state law allows a candidate to demand a recount of the vote when the results are within one-quarter of 1.0 percent, Billings did so.
“Seven votes is a tight enough race where if there are any mistakes whatever, it could flip things,” Billings told St. George News after the canvas. “I don’t necessarily believe it would flip it – a recount I think is important for the citizens. It’s about the integrity of the voting system … Anything we can do as elected officials and candidates to help increase the voters’ faith in our election system, that’s our job. We have to instill hope within people.”
If the results remain the same, Billings said he is fine with that, as his primary reason for calling the recount is to bolster voters’ faith in the integrity and transparency of county elections.
As for thoughts toward his opponent, Billings only had compliments for Elison, adding that House District 72 would be well-served with either of them representing it.
“Joe’s an amazing guy,” he said.
An issue Billings had during the race and continues to have is with the so-called SB 54 law that allows prospective candidates to bypass the caucus-convention path to the primary ballot by collecting signatures. While he called SB 54 a dangerous law, Billings said he had no ill will toward the people who took the signature route.
Elison was among the candidates who took the signature path and secured his place on the primary ballot through signatures despite losing to Billings in the convention in April.
Both Billings and Elison were present at the County Commission meeting as the canvas results were approved and spoke to each other following the meeting’s conclusion.
“I’m excited to represent our district,” Elison told St. George News, yet also said he supports Billings’ call for a recount.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “We have to call for a recount. The county is not going to do it automatically. He has a right to do so and I think he owes it to his votes to do so.”
As for the results of the recount, Elison said he didn’t believe anything would change.
“I’ve trusted the election process the whole time,” he said.
Lewis said of the recount this week that her office is running some 40,000 ballots through the voting machine once more at an estimated 10,000 ballots per day.
When asked by a county resident why the recount would be through machines and not a hand count as requested by Billings, Lewis said there is a possibility for human error and bias. In contrast, a machine count is impartial and considered more accurate.
As another precaution against vote tampering, state law requires that voting machines not be connected to the internet.
An audit on the county’s vote-counting process was held last Friday and no errors were found, Lewis said.
As she lives in House District 72, Lewis said she will be recusing herself from the recount. Members of her staff who also live within the district will do the same, she said.
“I think it’s important that our voters have confidence in (the process),” Washington County Commissioner Victor Iverson said. “There’s a constant effort to keep our elections secure and transparent.”
It is anticipated the election recount will take the remainder of the week with results announced sometime the following week, Lewis added.
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