Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser won her House District 64 primary race against Liberty Republican challenger Karen Campbell by just 84 votes on Tuesday, according to unofficial election results from the Kenton County Clerk.
Moser’s victory isn’t narrow enough, however, to trigger a recount.
An automatic recount — or automatic recheck of ballots cast in an election — requires a margin of no more than one-half of a percent, or 0.5% of votes cast of total ballots cast in a race. Moser won by 2% of 3000 votes cast in Tuesday’s race – or 51% to Campbell’s 49%, based on unofficial results.
Neither will there be a recanvass of the votes upon request of a candidate in the race. A recanvass, or review of vote totals, is allowed if a discrepancy is found at the county level or a candidate requests one in writing. To request one, the vote margin has to be one percent or less.
“It looks like this race is 2% points apart, so there will not be a recanvass,” Secretary of State communications director Michon Lindstrom told LINK on Wednesday.
Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe told LINK Wednesday that vote totals from Tuesday’s primary are unofficial until certified to the state. For now, the results speak for themselves.
“As far as I’m concerned, everything that is out there has been accounted for, and we’re done,” Summe told LINK.
Campbell has the option of requesting a recount of ballots cast in the race but would have to pay the cost, which would be determined by the courts. She has not said if she will make that request.
LINK has reached out to Campbell for comment and will update this story as the information is received.
Moser surmised tight margins in the race were tied to voter turnout.
“I think all the negativity and the vitriol that we’re seeing not just in our state and local races but nationally, it’s turning voters off. So we had this abysmally low voter turnout that really affected the race. I think that’s why it was so close,” she told LINK Wednesday.
Kenton County had the lowest voter turnout in NKY at 9.65%, according to election night results from the Secretary of State’s office. Regional turnout was highest in Boone County (12.64%) and Campbell (10.39%). Statewide turnout was also low, at 12.71%.
Moser, a Taylor Mill Republican who has served four terms in the Kentucky House, specifically credited negative campaigning from “dark money” groups – or big money donors typically located outside of Kentucky – for the poor turnout numbers.
“This had more to do with outside groups rather than my opponent,” Moser told LINK.
Campbell, not Moser, was the “verified” candidate in the race by the Kentucky Liberty Caucus – a Republican anti-establishment organization headquartered in Louisville that supported a number of primary winners across NKY and the state on Tuesday. But Moser isn’t pointing fingers at the caucus, asserting instead that disinformation from groups outside Kentucky had the biggest impact on the race.
“I think it planted a seed of question with some of the voters and a great deal of confusion,” Moser told LINK. “I think in the end folks didn’t come out to vote like I thought they might.”
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Written by Rebecca Hanchett. Cross-posted from Link NKY.
