Shupe formally requests state audit of District 36 primary vote

The close number of votes in the House District 36 GOP primary will be audited by the state Department of Elections.

Rep. Bryan Shupe, R-Milford, has asked the state to conduct an audit, because the 12-vote difference between him and opponent Patrick Smith has been challenged by Smith.

Smith on Wednesday filed for a Sussex County recount, because the state told him the vote difference was a fraction too large to trigger a state recount.

“Today, I learned from the Delaware Department of Elections that they could not conduct a recount unless a sitting state legislator requested it,” Shupe said in a statement. “I immediately made that request. Our citizens need to be confident in the integrity and accuracy of these results.”

Shupe said he received from calls from other legislators saying that Smith was trying to get them to request an audit, and they declined. He then received a text from Smith’s team and doublechecked with the state.

Shupe is CEO of Delaware LIVE and founded MilfordLIVE before selling it four years ago.

“The Department of Elections, they let us down. They let the voters down … by not permitting the recount just from the gate, ” Smith said. “They should have done it from the start.”

He said he was glad Shupe “decided that he wanted to participate and have his name a part of it.”

Smith said the recount wasn’t for him or Shupe, but to assure the voters that their elections were fair and accurate.

The election results have been certified and Shupe won, Shupe pointed out in his Facebook post.

“The audit will show the number of votes,” Shupe said. “Our opponent said that there were 11 more votes on election night on the unofficial count website, which would be cause for a recount, and 12 votes the next day on the website, which makes a recount not automatic under Delaware law.”

Shupe said he had a long history of supporting proposals to improve governmental accountability and increase transparency.

“Our citizens need to be confident in the integrity and accuracy of these results,” he said in his statement. “Ever since the primary results were tallied, I have repeatedly and publicly expressed my support for a recount. I’ve made good on those statements with today’s action.”

Tuesday ended with unofficial results showing Smith at 1,145 votes and Shupe at 1,156, out of 2,301 votes cast.

When the absentee ballot for Shupe was added Wednesday, the vote was now 1,145 to 1,157, out of 2,302 votes.

The threshold to trigger a recount is a 0.5% vote difference. 0.5% of 2,302 is 11.51,” Smith said.

Shupe added that should the recount confirm his victory, and he is fortunate enough to win again in the November race, he will introduce legislation in the upcoming 153^rd General Assembly doubling the automatic recount margin-of-victory threshold to 1 percent.

Smith said in a statement Wednesday that he filed a petition with the Board of Canvass at the Sussex County Superior Court and the Delaware Department of Elections, saying it was the most transparent way to assure people that the election results were correct.

He asked the Board of Canvass to:

• Request a recount of this election.
• Challenge the determination not to conduct an automatic recount.
• Pause any certification of election results until representatives from both campaigns are able to inspect and count the ballots in a recount, including the absentee ballots and their envelopes.”