7th District:

Woodall’s win will be 1st Congressional recount since 1992.

Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux plans to request a recount in her race against U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall,

Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux said Friday that she plans to request a recount in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District, where she appears to have been narrowly defeated by Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall.

The Georgia State University professor trailed Woodall by 419 votes, about 0.14 percent of votes cast in the district rooted in Forsyth and Gwinnett counties, as the state prepared to certify its election results.

“It is crucial that every eligible vote is counted and every voice is heard,” Bourdeaux spokesman Jake Best said. “We want to make sure every vote was counted correctly and fairly, and that is why we intend to request a recount of this race.”

Georgia code allows a losing candidate down by less than 1 percent of the vote to request a taxpayer-funded recount within two business days of the election results being finalized by the state.

The exact timing of a recount was unclear. A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office, which is charged with directing recounts, did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

Recounts are relatively quick for the state to administer, according to three elections lawyers interviewed Friday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, since most votes are cast electronically and can easily be reprocessed. Absentee and provisional ballots take slightly longer to tabulate.

But recounts rarely change election results by substantial margins.

A spokesman for Woodall did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Thursday evening the Lawrenceville Republican urged voters to unify.

“We must turn our attention from elections to service, from those things that divide us to those things that make us stronger,” he said shortly after Gwinnett County certified its election results. “The next two years are full of opportunity for our community, our state and our nation.”

While relatively common at the local level, it’s been years since Georgia held a congressional recount. Part of that is because most of the state’s congressional districts are drawn to favor one party and are rarely competitive in general elections.

Two of the most recent congressional recounts came in 1992. In one, then-Congressman Newt Gingrich edged out primary opponent Herman Clark.

That same summer, a recount also helped propel former U.S. Attorney Bob Barr into a U.S. Senate primary runoff with Republican Paul Coverdell.

Carolyn Bourdeaux (left) plans to seek a recount in her race for U.S. Rep against Rob Woodall.