After an audit held on September 27, Representative Bryan Shupe was named the official winner of the 36th House of Representative race
The Primary Election audit was held on Friday, September 27 in the 36th House of Representative District. It was confirmed there were 81 absentee votes for Representative Bryan Shupe and 33 absentee votes for his challenger, Patrick Smith. This confirms that Shupe will be the Republican candidate on the ballot in November.
“Thank you to the Department of Elections for being transparent with the ballots and allowing myself and representation from our opponent to review the ballots,” Shupe said.
Smith is still challenging votes in the election, however.
“Please feel free to attend the Machine Audit for the District 36 Primary Election conducted by Delaware Department of Elections on October 9th at 10AM in the elections building at 119 Race Street, Georgetown, DE,” a post on Patrick Smith for Delaware’s Facebook page read today. “This is not a complete audit nor a recount of the election in its entirety. Machines were selected ‘out of a hat’ to audit the votes and recount those specific machines. Machines from Mispillion Elementary and Del Tech were selected.”
The post continued, stating that the Department of Elections had not performed a proper audit.
“We have been working diligently to ensure the election was tried and true and that YOUR votes were counted correctly. The Department of Elections and Commissioner [Anthony] Albence had a clear path to electoral transparency and chose not to take it,” the post read. “Instead, they’ve decided to piecemeal the review of this election and exacerbate a seemingly simple premise with the assistance of the DoJ. And my team hasn’t allowed themselves to be railroaded by this lack of execution by government officials.”
Smith called into question the methods used during the audit held on September 27.
Patrick Smith still believes there are questions about whether Shupe actually won the election
“On 9/27, both campaigns were permitted to review the absentee ballots together at the elections office. Our team determined six ballots to be of question, however. One ballot, in particular, was questionable enough to have drawn special review from the DoE but was counted for my opponent Rep. Shupe nonetheless,” the post reads. “We believe the ballot is inconclusive and should not be counted. I will update you all as soon as our requests are reviewed and if the DoE will take any corrective action in these six ballots.”
In an email, Shupe reminded everyone who cast absentee ballots, stating that absentee voters in Delaware are US Armed forces, sick or physically disabled, or on vacation outside the district.
According to the audit, Shupe received 1,157 votes or 50.26 percent of those cast. Of those votes, 880 were machine votes, 81 were absentee votes and 196 were early votes. Smith received 1,145 votes or 49.74 percent. Of those, 923 were machine votes, 33 were absentee votes and 189 were early votes.
After the election, Smith claimed that when he went to bed that night, he believed an automatic recount would be issued as there was only an 11 vote difference. When he woke up in the morning, he claimed that an absentee ballot had been added to Shupe’s count, cancelling the automatic requirement for a recount. However, the audit showed that all the ballots came in before the deadline of 8 PM on election day and that they were recorded online for the public to view in the total count tally at 11:31 PM on election night.
Smith filed for a recount and, in the interest of transparency, Shupe, as a sitting representative, requested that the Department of Election conduct a recount, agreeing with Smith that the margin was close enough the recount should be performed. According to Delaware law, only a sitting member of the legislature could demand a recount if the difference in votes was less than 0.1 percent of the votes cast. That would be an 11 vote difference and Shupe won by 12.
Shupe now faces Milford native and former member of the Milford School District Board of Education Rony Baltazar-Lopez in the general election. The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
DISCLAIMER: Bryan Shupe is the former CEO and editor of Milford Live and its parent company Delaware Live. He stepped down from that position on September 27.
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