Saint Louis, Mo. — A coalition of opponents to Amendment 1, the so-called “Right to Farm Amendment,” have formally requested a recount in the razor-thin Aug. 5 victory for the legislation.
With nearly one million votes cast, Missouri voters approved Amendment 1 by just 2,490 votes, a win of about one quarter of one percent. Any vote margin of victory one half of one percent or less can automatically be recounted by the Secretary of State’s office so long as a formal request is filed.
Missouri’s Food for America, one of the member groups of the coalition, formally requested the recount. Former state lawmaker Wes Shoemeyer, President of MFA, said the recount would ensure confidence in the election process.
“The legislature saw fit to establish an opportunity for a recount in close elections to ensure confidence in our process,” Shoemeyer said. “The ‘No on 1’ folks on the ground put a great deal of effort into this fight, did a lot of hard work, and it was a team put together like I haven’t seen in years. We owe it to those people to ensure that every vote was counted properly.”
Rep. Casey Guernsey, an ardent supporter of Amendment 1, said the recount amounted to opposition groups being “sore losers.”
“I agree with Wes Shoemeyer that there’s nothing wrong with the way the vote was conducted,” Guernsey said. “I disagree that we should waste taxpayer resources and the time and resources of the SOS office to conduct a recount that they don’t even believe will change the outcome. They themselves have said they don’t believe it’ll change the outcome but they want to do it anyway. I think this is just an example of those of us supporting this measure working very hard and all rowing in the same direction.”
Secretary of State, Jason Kander, confirmed the recount in a statement today.
“My goal is to set the standard for an open, transparent and fair recount process,” Kander said. “Recounts are in place to both ensure the integrity of elections and give Missourians confidence in the results, which is why I put an emphasis on new transparency measures.”
The last time a statewide vote was recounted was in 2008 when Attorney General Chris Koster only narrowly defeated Margaret Donnelly in the Democratic primary. Out of more than 670,000 votes cast, Koster walked away with a win by only 800 votes. However, the state’s official recount did nothing to upend Koster’s victory.
According to the SOS office, Koster’s 2008 recount was the last statewide recount in recent years, and none in modern times have resulted in a change in the outcome.
The SOS office has 20 days to submit make recount results public. Because the deadline falls on a Sunday, the results will be made available Monday, September 15.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
