Norris seeking formal recount in GOP Secretary of State runoff

After losing by 938 votes statewide – less than 1% – Bryan Norris said he is seeking an official recount of the GOP runoff race for the Secretary of State nomination. On Tuesday (March 31), Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, had 40,876 votes (50.58%) to Norris’ 39,938 votes (49.42%), according to unofficial results from all 75 counties.

Norris said his campaign has officially filed a formal petition for recount in multiple counties pursuant to Ark. Code § 7-5-319.

“This is not about being a sore loser,” Norris said. “This is about the voters of Arkansas who deserve to know with absolute certainty that every ballot was counted correctly. When a race is decided by a fraction of a percentage point, the law provides a process for verification. We are using that process exactly as it was intended.”

The petitions request that each respective County Board of Election Commissioners conduct a full recount of all ballots cast in the Secretary of State race, verify duplicated ballots and tabulated totals, produce all materials related to the election, and manually compile and certify the results of the recount as required by Arkansas law.

The petitions were filed by Norris’s legal counsel, Clinton Lancaster of Clint Lancaster & Co. LLC in Little Rock, and were submitted within the time allowed by Arkansas law.

“Election integrity is not a talking point for us,” Norris said. “It is the reason this campaign existed. We will see this process through to the end.”

Talk Business & Politics will update this story later today.