How Do Election Recounts Work in Battleground States?
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A poll worker sorts out ballots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. AP Photo/Wong Maye-E Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
Even though the 2020 presidential race has been called for President-elect Joe Biden, results in a number of key battleground states remain relatively close. Those margins could trigger
automatic recounts in some states, and recounts could be requested in others.
The rules governing recounts differ by state, but history shows that they rarely change the outcome of a race.
"A recount overturning an election is very rare,” says Deb Otis, a senior research analyst at FairVote, a nonpartisan election-reform organization. “It's only happened three times in the
last 20 years” in statewide races, she adds. The best-known case of a recount overturning a major race occurred in 2008, when Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who spent most of his career as
a stand-up comedian, won his U.S. Senate race by 215 votes after a recount. Out of the 5,778 statewide general elections held between 2000 and 2019, there were only 31 recounts.