Bevin Calls for a Recanvass of Votes

Matt Bevin demands recall after losing the Nov. 5 election

Kennedy Gayheart, Editor-in-Chief|November 7, 2019

The whole nation watched as the Kentucky Gubernatorial Election was happening on Nov. 5. Exceeding the Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ prediction, 42 percent of registered voters cast a ballot–the state’s largest voter turnout since the election in 1995. This is a large increase from the 2014 election which elected Matt Bevin with only a 30 percent voter turnout. 

The race between Republican Matt Bevin and Democrat Andy Beshear was a nail-biter that ended in Beshear taking the victory in a 49 percent win.

Even after having support from President Trump during a rally the night before elections, Bevin couldn’t pull a reelection victory. 

As the district tallies ran in, it appeared that Beshear won the larger cities like Lexington and Louisville, while Bevin won more smaller counties. In Lexington, Beshear won by a two to one margin. Although Bevin won more counties in total, he didn’t have the popular vote. 

Refusing to concede, Bevin has called for a recanvass of the vote. This includes double-checking that the voting machines had the correct count and recounting all absentee ballots.

Even though Beshear flipped the Governor’s race, the Republican party won every other category including the replacement for Beshear’s role as Attorney General, Daniel Cameron.

After 100 percent of counties reporting, the hashtag #ByeByeBevin was already trending on Twitter.

One popular belief is that Beshear won with the help of the public school teachers’ support. According to Vox, “Andy Beshear just flipped Kentucky’s governor’s seat from red to blue, and he did it with an army of public school teachers behind him.”

The recanvass will take place on Nov. 14.