UPDATED at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday with details about the remaining uncounted votes in Kansas City.
Razor-thin vote margins in Missouri’s Republican and Democratic presidential primaries Tuesday raised the question of a recount.
With all precincts reporting, Republican Donald Trump defeated Ted Cruz by less than one-half of 1 percent, or 1,726 votes, according to the Missouri secretary of state’s office.
Democrat Hillary Clinton’s margin was even closer. Clinton also defeated Bernie Sanders by less than one-half of 1 percent, or 1,531 votes, the office reported.
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• Clinton piles up victories over Sanders
• U.S. Reps. Shimkus, Davis renominated, state Sen. McCann survives attack ads
Those number don't include Kansas City absentee and same-day votes that were still uncounted as of Wednesday morning, according to the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners. However, those figures, which are expected later today, aren't more than "a few hundred" votes, said a spokesman, and so wouldn't affect the outcome.
It’s possible that recounts could take place in both races, whoever is declared the unofficial winner. Under Missouri law, a candidate who loses by less than one-half of 1 percent of all votes cast can seek a recount.
The close margins amount to little more than bragging rights, with the winners being able to say they won the state.
John Hancock, the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, said on Tuesday night that any recount would be a legal question.
“It looks to me like the separation is pretty clear,” Hancock said. “The question is if the congressional districts are tight enough. And we aren’t going to know that for a while.”
The state’s 52 GOP delegates will be awarded by the winner of the popular vote in the state’s eight congressional districts. That means the vote margins could be even slimmer when the count is spliced over those boundaries.
The Democrats have a more complicated system of awarding delegates.
Roy Temple, the chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Forty-seven of the 71 Democratic delegates will be divided based on their showings in the eight House districts. The remainder will be allotted based on their percentage of the statewide vote.
Kevin McDermott and Mark Schlinkmann of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Election 2016 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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