Recount bill passes House

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill attempting to make the requirements for a candidate to seek a recount consistent throughout the state passed the House Tuesday and now goes to the Senate.

Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley, the sponsor of HB85, said the current law allowing recounts only if a candidate loses by no more than one vote per precinct is "bad policy." He said that the number of precincts in legislative districts, for example, varies from 16 to 56.

Hall's bill would change the formula to allow recounts ot be requested by a candidate who loses by a number equal to or less than .25 percent of the total votes cast for all candidates in the race.  

He told his fellow representatives that if the change been in place in the 2012 general election, it would not have allowed GOP congressional candidate Mia Love to seek a recount in her close race with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

"This is not some type of sour grapes effort by the Utah Republican Party," Hall said.

The bill passed 72-0 and now goes to the Senate.

— Lisa Riley Roche

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