Bourdeaux Asks For Recount In 7th Congressional District Race

Responding to Bourdeaux’s request, Georgia Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden said the recount will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday and continue until complete. Georgia law allows a recount if the margin between the candidates is 1 percent or less. The margin between Woodall and Bourdeaux is just under .15 percent.

“We took this from a seat that was a 20 percentage point margin to one that is now a .14 percentage point margin, and I think that was very important,” Bourdeaux said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

She’s also asking to be allowed to observe the count and for provisional and absentee ballots to be counted by hand.

“Much of this vote was done electronically, and there is actually no way to verify that the votes cast on the machines were the ones that were actually recorded,” she said.

But, she said, there were almost 20,000 paper ballots cast in the race. For those, she said she would like to be able to closely watch poll workers counting.

“While I am, of course, concerned about fairness and transparency with respect to my own race, I do see this as a part of an overall effort to reform election processes here in Georgia so that everybody can have confidence that their vote is being counted,” she said.

Woodall spokesman Derick Corbett said the recount request was expected, “so this next phase does not come as a surprise and certainly is not alarming.”

“For now however, Rob Woodall has been certified the winner and he is back to work, serving the 7th district,” Corbett said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report