9:20AM WED: Is a recount coming in House District 55?

In Iowa House District 55 nearly 12,000 votes were counted on Tuesday.  The initial results show Republican Darrel Branhagen winning by just 31 votes.

The Fayette and Winneshiek County Boards will meet separately on Monday, November 10th, to canvas the results of Tuesday's election.  The Clayton County Board will hold its vote canvas on Wednesday, November 12th.

In a vote canvas, additional votes may be added to the previous vote totals.  These votes include absentee ballots that have been mailed to the Auditor's Office in each County and have a postmark of Monday, November 3rd or earlier, but were not received by the Auditor's Office by Tuesday.  The county boards will also have to decide what to do with any provisional ballots--ballots that were cast but not included in the vote totals because of various issues.

After the canvasses are completed, Democrat Rick Edwards will have three working days in which to file a recount request.  If a recount is asked for, a three-person committee will handle the recount--one person appointed by Democrats, one by Republicans and a third person appointed by the two other appointees, mutually agreed upon by the two.

A request for a vote recount can be filed in one of the three counties and not the others.  It can also be requested to cover certain precincts in a county and not others.