How each of the seven key swing states would fare in a 2024 recount – NBC New York

The the 2024 election it looks extremely close in the polls. And if the actual results are so close after Election Day, the results in a key state may be based on a recount.

Rules about when recounts take place and the procedures they include vary from state to state because elections are administered at the local level. Those rules have been in the spotlight in 2020, after Joe Biden won a handful of key battleground states by narrow margins.

Former President Donald Trump requested and was granted representation in several of these states, but none of them changed the outcome of the election there. Usually, recounts change the final margin of a race only slightly, but when the vote is close enough, they can have a real effect.

Before Election Day, here’s a refresher on the recount rules in the states expected to be the closest in the presidential race.

Arizona

Candidates do not request recounts in Arizona, but the state requires an automatic recount if a race is decided by a margin of less than (or equal to) 0.5% of the votes cast in a race. The threshold was lower in 2020 (0.1%), but the state has since enacted a law raising the automatic recount threshold to 0.5%.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers new measures approved in 2024 which would shorten the time needed for a possible recount. That means Arizona could handle a recount and miss the deadline for the December meeting where members of the Electoral College cast their votes.

Georgia

In Georgia, a candidate can request a recount if a race’s margin is within 0.5 percentage points, as long as the request is made within two business days of certification.

Georgia’s 2020 presidential vote has been heavily scrutinized in the days since Election Day, given both the tight margin and Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud.

Election officials recounted nearly 5 million ballots after the election as part of the risk limitation audit at state level authorized by a new state law.

Then, after the state certified Biden’s victoryTrump’s campaign called for an automatic recountas was his right under state law. (That count didn’t change the result either.)

State law also allows election officials to request a recount if there is “a suspected error or discrepancy in the statements,” and the secretary of state can request one if a candidate believes a “suspected error or discrepancy” has occurred.

Michigan

Michigan law provides for an automatic recount if the margin of victory in a race is 2,000 votes or less. A candidate is also allowed to request a recount if they have a “good faith belief that, but for fraud or error, the candidate would have had a reasonable chance of winning,” according to state law.

The state recently passed changes to Michigan’s recount law, but none will go into effect before Election Day.

Nevada

There is no provision for automatic recounts here, but a candidate can request one provided he covers the cost of the recount and makes the request within three days of certification.

North Carolina

A candidate may request a recount in a race if the margin of victory is less than 0.5% of the votes cast or 10,000 votes, whichever is less.

Pennsylvania

The state automatically triggers a recount if the margin between two candidates is within 0.5%. But three voters can also request a recount in a particular constituency if they claim there was fraud or error in that constituency.

Wisconsin

The state allows candidates to request a recount, as Trump did in 2020. But the candidate requesting a recount must cover the expenses if the margin of victory is greater than 0.25 percentage points, as Trump did when he paid $3 million for a partial recount which did not result in any substantial change in the number of votes from 2020.

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