Republican Governor Matt Bevin, who lost his re-election race Tuesday night despite tremendous support from President Donald Trump, has refused to concede. His Democratic challenger, Andy Beshear, has been declared the winner by news organizations.
The one-term Tea Party Republican governor who went into election day as the second-most disliked governor in the nation on Wednesday formally petitioned the Kentucky Secretary of State to “recanvass” the election results.
Bevin, who was ushered in by an anti-LGBT element after he embraced embattled county Clerk Kim Davis (photyo), spent a good portion of his time as governor waging war against the state’s teachers so viciously he even, without evidence or proof, blamed striking teachers for the rape of children. No rapes were reported during that single-day strike.
Secretary of State Allison Grimes posted Bevin’s request, in which he claims there were “multiple reports of voting irregularities.”
She has granted his request. The recanvass, which could be described as a light recount of totals only, not a recount of votes, will be performed next week on Thursday.
Kentucky, unlike many other states, has no formal recount mandate. Some states by law are required to perform a recount if the results are within a certin number of votes or if the number of margin of votes falls below a certain percentage.
Bevin lost to Beshear by just over 5000 votes, about a 0.4% margin.
Calling Bevin’s questionable claims “dangerous for democracy,” election law and voting rights professor Josh Douglas is calling on Bevin to produce evidence of “irregularities,” saying he is unaware there were any.
Meanwhile, some have expressed suspicion about the GOP’s possible efforts to somehow undermine the results.
Journalist, and voting rights and elections expert Daniel Nichanian earlier Wednesday issued what could be considered a warning: