Iowa officials continue to tabulate election results

DES MOINES — The counting of Iowans’ votes continues a week after the Nov. 8 election as state and local officials this week will conduct recounts that either are the result of narrow election margins or audits announced before the election was held.

Linn, Warren and Des Moines counties have corrected figures or completed partial recounts after irregularities were discovered while reporting their results last week.

On Tuesday, Scott County also will conduct a recount of some absentee ballots after irregularities were found there.

As it did with Linn County, where the county auditor’s office erroneously left an election for a supervisor off the ballot in one precinct, the Iowa Secretary of State’s office will send a letter of inquiry to the Scott County auditor about the issue there, and has been in touch with the Scott County Attorney and state Attorney General, a spokesman for the state office said.

Scott County Auditor Kerri Tompkins told the Quad City Times that during an internal audit, her office found a 470-ballot discrepancy between counts of absentee ballots. Two elections — for a statehouse seat and a county recorder — currently show narrow margins that could be impacted by the recount, the Times reported.

“My job is to audit the numbers and ensure 100 percent accurate results. If there is any question, I believe a recount is necessary,” Tompkins said in a statement, according to the Times.

All of Iowa’s 99 counties are conducting postelection recounts in randomly selected precincts in two statewide elections: for governor and for a state constitutional amendment on gun rights. These audits were planned before the election to ensure accurate reporting of the results, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said.

Previously, county auditors were required to conduct such postelection audits in one — not two — races.

Once counties finish their canvasses — the official counting and reporting of their election results — early this week, candidates will have three days to request a recount, a deadline that likely will be at the end of this week. If the election margin was less than 1 percent of the vote, the recount is conducted at the counties’ expense and not the candidates’.

At least two candidates already have said they plan to ask for a recount, one of which was in a statewide campaign.

Todd Halbur, the Republican candidate for state auditor, said he plans to request a recount. Halbur lost to Democratic incumbent Rob Sand by 2,649 votes out of nearly 1.2 million cast in the election — a margin of just .22 percent — according to the latest results reported by the Iowa Secretary of State.

If the result holds, Sand will be the only Iowa Democrat to win a statewide race in this election. Iowa Republicans won the campaigns for U.S. Senate, governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Agriculture and Treasurer.

And Garrett Gobble, a Republican incumbent candidate for the Iowa House in Ankeny, also said he plans to request a recount. Gobble lost to Democratic challenger Heather Matson by just 23 votes out of nearly 14,000, a margin of a mere .16 percent.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com