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12.03.2008 12:05 pm

Joan Barry seeks recount in narrow State Senate loss

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Lembke, left, and Barry

Lembke, left, and Barry

Democrat Joan Barry is seeking a recount in her razor-thin loss to Republican Jim Lembke for the State Senate representing south St. Louis city and county.

Barry lost the contest by just 76 votes out of 88,362 cast — a difference of just fractions of a percent. Under state law, candidates who lose by less than one percent are untitled to a recount.

On Tuesday, once the election results had been certified, Barry attorney Jane Dueker — who was chief of staff to ex-Gov. Bob Holden — sent a letter to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan officially requesting the recount.

There could also be a recount in the 17th District State House race in St. Charles, where Republican Vicki Schneider lost to Democra Kenny Biermann by just 74 votes.

5 comments

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I think you meant “entitled”. Spellcheck does not catch correctly spelled, but improperly used, words.

— nonenglishmajor
12:51 pm December 3rd, 2008

Aside from winning straight out by getting more votes on election day, Barry’s only other chance was in the provisional ballot count. That didn’t work either.

As far as I know, no recount has ever changed the outcome of an election. The number of votes can change, usually not by much and most of the time it appears the winner picks up more but the outcome doesn’t.

The only thing for certain is that taxpayers will be out some amount of money for Barry’s and potentially Schneider’s vanity.

— Jackson
1:30 pm December 3rd, 2008

Jackson,
Look to the Washington Governor’s race in 2004. The Democrat lost the election by 3,400 votes. After two or three recounts he suddenly won the race based upon 10,000 “found” ballots during the second recount. The democrat candidate’s advisor in the recount is the same person now advising Al Franken in Minnesotta.

Democrats have ways of making votes appear when they need them

— steve jackson
9:36 am December 4th, 2008

Hey, how can I argue with another Jackson?

What I am hoping is that Missouri’s laws protect against such shenanagins. It’s my understanding, and it could be wrong, that they merely go through the ballots that were already counted and turned in including the provisional ballots that were accepted. To my knowledge, thete were no challenges to those provisional ballots.

So, in light of your example, let me restate my claim. In no FAIR recount has the recount made any difference in who won or lost.

— Jackson
10:59 am December 4th, 2008

The vote count in the Barry campaign changed upwards of 8 times. This race, dedided by less than 1/10 of a percent, should be recounted.

— knowitall
9:04 am December 9th, 2008