Vote margins required for election recounts, 2020

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Vote margins required for election recounts, 2020

Election recounts typically occur in the event of a close margin of victory, accusations of election fraud, or the possibility of administrative errors. Automatic recounts occur if election results meet certain criteria laid out in state law. Requested recounts require an interested party, like a candidate or a voter, to ask for a recount. Unlike automatic recounts, if a recount is not requested, it will not be held.

Many states require a close vote margin for a recount to take place. This margin is typically either a number or percentage of votes separating candidates or ballot measure positions. These margins might differ based on the type or level of office.

This article lists:

• State-by-state automatic recount vote margins
• State-by-state requested recount vote margins

Vote margins required for automatic recounts by state

See also: How close does an election have to be to trigger an automatic recount? (2020)

The table below lists each state's general election automatic recount close vote margins and related state statutes.

General election automatic recount close vote margin requirements by state
State	Recount required if the margin of victory is:	Citation
Alabama	Less than or equal to 0.5% for any candidate election or a statewide ballot measure election. This only applies to the general election.	AL Code § 17-16-20 (2019)
Alaska	Tie vote.	AK Stat § 15.15.460 (2019)
Arizona	Less than or equal to the lesser of any of the following: Candidate elections: 0.1% of the votes cast for both candidates, or 200 votes for offices where the turnout is greater than 25,000, or 50 votes for offices where the turnout is 25,000 or less, or 50 votes for state legislative offices, or 10 votes for county and municipal offices. Ballot measures: 0.1% of the votes cast upon the ballot measure, or 200 votes These do not apply to elections for precinct committeemen or special district boards.	AZ Rev Stat § 16-661 (2019)
Arkansas	No automatic recounts.	N/A
California	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Colorado	Less than or equal to 0.5% for a candidate or ballot measure.	CO Rev Stat § 1-10.5-101 (2018)
Connecticut	Less than 0.5% but not more than 2,000 votes, or less than 20 votes. An automatic recount is also triggered if election officials discover a discrepancy in vote totals.	CT Gen Stat § 9-311, 311a (2019)
Delaware	General election state legislative and county offices: Less than 1,000 votes or 0.5%, whichever is less. Municipal offices in any election: Less than or equal to 0.5%.	15 DE Code § 5702, 3172, 7558 (2019)
District of Columbia	Not triggered by a close vote margin. A post-election audit might require an automatic recount under certain circumstances.	DC Code § 1–1001.09a (2019)
Florida	Less than or equal to 0.5%	FL Stat § 102.141 (2019)
Georgia	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Hawaii	Less than or equal to 100 votes or 0.25%, whichever is greater.	HI Rev Stat § 11-158 (2019)
Idaho	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Illinois	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Indiana	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Iowa	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Kansas	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Kentucky	Not triggered by a close vote margin. An automatic recount occurs if election officials discover an administrative or clerical error during the election and vote-counting process.	KY Rev Stat § 120.017 (2019)
Louisiana	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Maine	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Maryland	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Massachusetts	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Michigan	Less than or equal to 2,000 votes. This does not apply to offices where more than one candidate is elected in a single race.	MI Comp L § 168.880a, 168.879a (2019)
Minnesota	Not triggered by a close vote margin. An automatic recount occurs if the post-election audit of a county or counties consisting of more than 10% of the total number of persons voting in the election shows that an error occurred.	MN Stat § 206.89 (2019)
Mississippi	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Missouri	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Montana	Tie vote.	MT Code § 13-16-203 (2019)
Nebraska	Less than or equal to: 1% for candidates in elections where the turnout is more than 500 votes, or 2% for candidates in elections where the turnout is less than or equal to 500 votes. An automatic recount may also be triggered if election officials discover an obvious error during the canvass.	NE Code § 32-1119, 1031 (2019)
Nevada	No automatic recounts.	N/A
New Hampshire	No automatic recounts.	N/A
New Jersey	No automatic recounts.	N/A
New Mexico	Less than: 0.25% in elections for: Federal or statewide office, Statewide ballot measures, Supreme court or the court of appeals. 0.5% in elections for: Public regulation commissioner, public education commissioner, district attorney, or any county office in a county with more than 150,000 registered voters, Local ballot measures, District or metropolitan court. 1% for elections to any other office. An automatic recount might also occur as an outcome of a post-election audit, the specific guidelines for which can be found here.	NM Stat § 1-14-24, 1-14-13.2 (2019)
New York	Not triggered by a close vote margin. An automatic recount occurs if election officials identify vote total discrepancies or as the outcome of a mandated post-election audit of voting machines, the specific guidelines for which can be found here.	NY Elec L § 9-116 (2019), 9 CRR-NY 6210.18
North Carolina	Not triggered by a close vote margin. An automatic recount occurs if election officials discover a substantial error while conducting a random-sample partial recount as part of a requested recount. The specific circumstances can be found here.	NC Gen Stat § 163-182.7A (2019)
North Dakota	Less than or equal to: General and special elections: 1% Ballot measure elections: 0.25%	NDCC § 16.1-16-01
Ohio	Less than or equal to: County, municipal, and district elections: 0.5% Statewide elections: 0.25%	Ohio Rev Code § 3515.011 (2019)
Oklahoma	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Oregon	Less than or equal to 0.2% for candidate and ballot measures. This does not apply to ballot measures that required participation from at least 50% of registered voters and failed to meet that threshold.	OR Rev Stat § 258.280 (2019)
Pennsylvania	Less than or equal to 0.5% for statewide offices and statewide ballot measures. An automatic recount might also occur if election officials discover certain discrepancies described here.	25 P.S. § 3154
Rhode Island	No automatic recounts.	N/A
South Carolina	Less than or equal to 1% for constitutional amendments or any candidate.	SC Code § 7-17-280 (2019)
South Dakota	Tie vote. This does not apply to school or township elections.	SD Codified L § 12-21-16 (2019)
Tennessee	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Texas	Tie vote.	TX Elec Code § 216.001 (2019)
Utah	Certain margins met in municipalities that have adopted ranked-choice voting. This does not apply to any other election.	UT Code § 20A-4-603 (2019)
Vermont	Tie vote. This does not apply to local elections.	17 V.S.A. § 2592
Virginia	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Washington	Less than 2,000 votes and less than 0.5% of votes cast for statewide ballot measures or any candidate. This does not apply to state advisory votes or local ballot measures. An automatic recount also occurs if a partial recount changes an election outcome.	WA Rev Code § 29A.64.021, 29.A.64.050 (2019)
West Virginia	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Wisconsin	No automatic recounts.	N/A
Wyoming	Less than or equal to 1% of the votes cast in the particular race for ballot measure or any candidate. For constitutional amendments, the margin must be less than or equal to 1% of the total votes cast in the entire election. An automatic recount also occurs if election officials discover irregularities in the election of a candidate.	WY Stat § 22-16-109, 22-16-111 (2019)

Vote margins required for requested recounts by state

See also: Can a candidate or voter request a recount? (2020)

The table below lists each state's general election requested recount close vote margin requirements and related state statutes for candidates and voters.

General election requested recount close vote margin requirements by state
State	Candidates and/or voters may request recounts if the margin of victory is:	Citation
Alabama	No margin required.	AL Code § 17-16-21 (2019)
Alaska	No margin required.	AK Stat § 15.20.430 (2019)
Arizona	No requested recounts.	N/A
Arkansas	No margin required.	AR Code § 7-5-319 (2019)
California	No margin required.	CA Elec Code § 15620 (2019)
Colorado	No margin required.	CO Rev Stat § 1-10.5-106 (2018)
Connecticut	No requested recounts.	N/A
Delaware	Less than: Statewide offices: 1,000 votes or 0.5%, whichever is less. School board, tax levies, and school bond elections: 10 votes or 0.5%, whichever is greater.	15 DE Code § 5702, 14 DE Code § 1083 (2019)
District of Columbia	No margin required.	DC Code § 1–1001.11 (2019)
Florida	No requested recounts.	N/A
Georgia	Less than or equal to 0.5%.	GA Code § 21-2-495 (2019)
Hawaii	No requested recounts.	N/A
Idaho	No margin required.	ID Code § 34-2301 (2019)
Illinois	At least 95% of the vote of the winning candidate.	10 ILCS 5/22-9.1
Indiana	No margin required.	IN Code § 3-12-11-1 (2019)
Iowa	No margin required.	IA Code § 50.48, 50.49 (2019)
Kansas	No margin required.	KS Stat § 25-3107 (2019)
Kentucky	No margin required.	KY Rev Stat § 120.095, 120.185 (2018)
Louisiana	The number of outstanding absentee/mail-in ballots must be enough to change the election outcome.	LA Rev Stat § 18:1313 (2019)
Maine	No margin required. In elections using ranked-choice voting, only the top-three finishers present in the second-to-last round may request a recount.	21-A ME Rev Stat § 737-A (2019)
Maryland	No margin required.	MD Elec Law Code § 12-101 (2019)
Massachusetts	Statewide and district-wide elections: Less than or equal to 0.5%. Municipal elections: No margin required.	MA Gen L ch 54 § 135 (2019)
Michigan	No margin required.	MI Comp L § 168.879 (2019)
Minnesota	No margin required.	MN Stat § 204C.35, 204C.36 (2019)
Mississippi	No requested recounts.	N/A
Missouri	Less than 1%.	MO Rev Stat § 115.601 (2019)
Montana	Less than: Candidate elections: 0.5%. Ballot measure elections: 0.25%.	MT Code § 13-16-201, 13-16-211 (2019)
Nebraska	No margin required.	NE Code § 32-1121 (2019)
Nevada	No margin required.	NV Rev Stat § 293.403 (2019)
New Hampshire	General elections: Less than 20%. Village district, town, and school board elections: No margin required. No margin is required for voter-requested recounts of ballot measure elections.	NH Rev Stat § 660-671
New Jersey	No margin required.	NJ Rev Stat § 19:28-1 (2019)
New Mexico	No margin required.	NM Stat § 1-14-14, 60-5A-1 (2019)
New York	No margin required.	NY Elec L § 15-126 (2019)
North Carolina	Less than or equal to: Statewide elections: 10,000 votes or 0.5%, whichever is less. Non-statewide elections: 1%.	NC Gen Stat § 163-182.7 (2019)
North Dakota	Less than 2% for candidate elections. A recount cannot be requested for ballot measure elections.	NDCC § 16.1-16-01
Ohio	No margin required.	Ohio Rev Code § 3515.01 (2019)
Oklahoma	No margin required for candidate election recounts. For ballot measures, less than or equal to: When vote total is greater than 14,999: 150 votes. When vote total is less than 15,000: 1%.	26 OK Stat § 26-8-111 (2019)
Oregon	No margin required.	OR Rev Stat § 258.016 (2019)
Pennsylvania	No margin required.	25 P.S. § 3154
Rhode Island	Less than: Offices for which only one candidate can be elected: If the vote total is 20,000 or less: 200 votes or 2%, whichever is less. If the vote total is between 20,001 and 100,000: 500 votes or 1%, whichever is less. If the vote total is greater than 100,000: 1,500 votes or 0.5%, whichever is less. Offices for which multiple candidates can be elected: If the vote total is 5,000 or less: 50 votes or 2%, whichever is less. If the vote total is between 5,001 and 20,000: 100 votes or 1%, whichever is less. If the vote total is greater than 20,000: 150 votes or 0.5%, whichever is less. Ballot measure elections: If the vote total is 100,000 or less: 2%. If the vote total is greater than 100,000: 1%.	RI Gen L § 17-19-37.1, 17-19-37.3 (2019)
South Carolina	No requested recounts.	N/A
South Dakota	Less than or equal to: Statewide and multi-county district elections: 0.25%. State legislative, county, and school board elections: 2%. Municipal elections: 5 votes or 2%. Precinct-level voter-requested recounts: 2%.	SD Codified L § 12-21-2 to15 (2019)
Tennessee	In Tennessee, recounts cannot be requested directly, but they can occur as part of a contested election. There is no margin required to contest an election.	N/A
Texas	Less than 10% for an initial recount.	TX Elec Code § 212.022, 212.031 (2019)
Utah	Less than or equal to: If the vote total is greater than 400: 0.25%. If the vote total is 400 or less: 1 vote.	UT Code § 20A-4-401 (2019)
Vermont	Less than or equal to: Federal, statewide, county, and state Senate elections: 2%. State House, local, and ballot measure elections: 5%.	17 VSA § 2601, 2683
Virginia	Less than or equal to: Candidates on the ballot: 1%. Write-in candidates: 5%. Ballot measure elections: 50 votes or 1%, whichever is greater.	VA Code § 24.2-800 (2019)
Washington	No margin required.	WA Rev Code § 29A.64.011 (2019)
West Virginia	No margin required.	WV Code § 3-6-9 (2019)
Wisconsin	Less than or equal to: If the vote total is 4,000 or less: 40 votes. If the vote total is greater than 4,000: 1%. No margin required for ballot measure elections.	WI Stat § 9.01 (2019)
Wyoming	No margin required.	WY Stat § 22-16-110, 22-16-111 (2019)

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See also

• Election recount laws and procedures in the 50 states, 2020
  • How will election recounts work?
  • How close does an election have to be to trigger an automatic recount? (2020)
  • Can a candidate or voter request a recount? (2020)
  • Who pays for recounts and contested elections? (2020)

Additional reading

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission, "Recounts and Contests Study"
• Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota, "Recount Database"
• National Conference of Secretaries of State, "State Election Canvassing Timeframes and Recount Thresholds"
• National Conference of State Legislatures, "Automatic Recounts"