MILFORD, Del. - State Rep. Bryan Shupe has called for an audit of the results from his primary election after narrowly winning the Republican nomination for the 36th Representative District.
Shupe defeated challenger Patrick Smith by 12 votes out of 2,302 cast in the primary which took Tuesday, Sep. 10, Under Delaware law an automatic recount is triggered when the margin of victory is less than 0.5%. In this case, the margin stood at 0.521%, just outside the threshold for a recount.
"I have a long history of supporting proposals to improve governmental accountability and increase transparency," Shupe said. "Today, I learned from the Delaware Department of Elections that they could not conduct an audit unless a sitting state legislator requested it. I immediately made that request. Our citizens need to be confident in the integrity and accuracy of these results."
Shupe said that since the results were finalized he has publicly advocated for an audit.
The Delaware Department of Elections has yet to respond to the audit request.
