Over at FlatheadMemo.com, local blogger James Conner crunches the numbers on the two state House district recounts, and the likelihood of those recounts causing a flip in election results. One of the tightest races in the state was Kalispell’s House District 8, where Democratic newcomer Cheryl Steenson beat incumbent Republican Craig Witte by just 20 votes. The other race up for recount is Laurel’s Hosue District 58. Conner writes:
“Because of Montana’s peculiar law governing tied elections (the governor picks the winner), the requirements for winning the recount are higher for Witte than for Woerner. In HD-8, assuming no new votes are found (a risky assumption that I’ll discuss below), Witte wins if 11 votes are subtracted from Steenson’s total and added to Witte’s. In HD-58, Woerner ties — which means he wins, thanks to the tie breaking system — if 11 votes are subtracted from Kerns’ total and added to Woerner’s.”