By
Jeremy Duda
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Similar law requires recount when within one-tenth of a
If the presidential election was pending on Arizona's eight electoral votes, with the same difference in the popular vote, George W. Bush would be president.
But now, the nation is waiting as the state of Florida announced that there must be a vote recount for the presidential election.
After Florida's 25 electoral votes were given to Bush, election officials in that state said that the vote was too close to call. Under Florida law, if the difference in votes between two candidates is less than half of 1 percent, a recount must be held.
Arizona has similar laws, although they are rarely used, said Peter Goudinoff, a University of Arizona political science lecturer. Goudinoff, a state legislator from 1976 to 1996, questions the usefulness of recount laws.
"Typically, an honest recount just verifies the results of the election," Goudinoff said.
However, the difference between Arizona's recount laws and Florida's is in the percentage required to mandate the recount.
Arizona law dictates that a recount can only be held in an election if the difference in votes between the two candidates is less than one-tenth of 1 percent or 200 votes in a national election, said Mitch Etter, the Pima County elections manager.
"If the difference is 201 votes, there will be no recount," Etter said.
The requirements for a recount in local elections are also one-tenth of a percentage point, but the vote count is lower - a difference of 50 votes for legislative candidates and as few as 10 votes for the county board of supervisors candidates.
The percentage requirement in Arizona was recently changed from 1 percent. This makes declaring a recount even more difficult.
"One percent of a million is a lot of people," said Goudinoff.
However, the results in Arizona were not close enough for a recount to even be considered in Arizona. Bush defeated Gore, with 675,638 votes or 50.3 percent, to the Democrat's 611,140 votes or about 45 percent.
The recount law may be more applicable in Tucson's race for the state representative seats. Ted Downing, a UA social development research professor, lost in District 13 to Republican candidate Carol Somers by only 1 percent.
"I don't think it matters," said Goudinoff. "The difference is the closeness of the election."
