After over a week of counting votes, the House District 16 state representative race is slated for a recount by December due to a seven-vote difference. 

The race flipped back in forth until the unofficial results came out on Nov. 14, seeing incumbent Stephanie Vigil, the first Democrat to represent the central Colorado Springs district, lose to Republican candidate Rebecca Keltie. The district is where UCCS presides.

The tight margin led to an automatic recount due to a Colorado state law that requires a recount if the winner and runner-up are within a half percentage of each other. The race will likely make it one of, if not the closest races for a statewide seat in Colorado history, according to a Colorado Politics article. 

“As a fierce defender of our election system, I will, of course, honor the results of [the] final outcome. I have proudly run a positive, people-centered campaign, and even if we ultimately fall a few votes short, we did it battling an onslaught of dark money attacks, and opposition that relied on conspiracy theories, fear and division,” Vigil said in a Nov. 15 Facebook post. 

The recount won’t occur until after a risk-limiting audit is completed and the canvas board certifies the election results, which is expected to happen early the week of Thanksgiving according to an El Paso County official. The deadline for votes to be recounted is Dec. 6. 

Going into the election, Democrats held a supermajority of 46 to 65 seats in the House, but with two other districts flipping from blue to red, the District 16 race will decide if the supermajority is lost. Holding a supermajority allows a party to override governor vetoes and refer constitutional amendments to the ballot without support from the other. 

Rebecca Keltie (left) and Stephanie Vigil (right). Photo courtesy of the Gazette.