Will Bevin's recanvass actually change anything?

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The recanvass process is pretty straightforward. Each county is going to go through the ballots cast, add them all up, and send the totals to Frankfort. 

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because this is essentially the exact same process that already happened...on Election Day. Ergo, the chances of the recanvass changing the outcome of the election are super small. 

In fact, back in 2015, it was Governor Bevin’s primary challenger James Comer who requested the recanvass after an even closer election. The recanvass found no new votes (as in zero), and Bevin was later declared the official winner.

Assuming this year’s recanvass yields the same results, Bevin will have three options ahead of him. He can: 

1. Concede to Andy Beshear, who is already calling himself governor-elect;
2. Contest the election, and say why he thinks it wasn’t free and fair;
3. Demand a recount.

If he chooses option 3, he’ll have to pay for it himself according to Kentucky state law. Kentucky (and Indiana, for the record) join the majority of states in the U.S. in not requiring automatic recounts for close elections.

RELATED: 'I want what's best for Kentucky': Gov. Bevin sits down for one-on-one ahead of recanvass

To Bevin’s credit, though, in quite a few other states an election this close would get an automatic recount paid for by the state. The unofficial results show him around 5,000 votes behind Beshear, which amounts to a 0.4% margin. 

In South Carolina, for example, any election closer than 1% gets an automatic state-funded recount. Alabama, Colorado, and Florida have a stricter threshold of 0.5%, but even there this election would trigger the recount.

The recanvassing begins on Thursday at 9 a.m. We’ll keep you updated with the results online, on-air, and on our app. (If you don't have that yet, here's a link.)

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