FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) Republican Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky could face a legacy-defining decision once a recanvass of the recent election is completed Thursday, Nov. 14.
He could concede to Democrat Andy Beshear, or he could contest the race and put the outcome in the hands of state lawmakers.
Even Bevin’s allies acknowledge the recanvass was unlikely to change the results, which showed Beshear winning by a narrow margin — some 5,000 votes out of more than 1.4 million cast.
The last time Kentucky lawmakers had a decide a governor’s race was during the 1899 contest.
Bevin defended his refusal to concede while repeating his claim that he wanted to ensure the election’s integrity.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Bevin “had a good four years,” but he said the review of Bevin’s race against Kentucky Attorney General Beshear was unlikely to change the vote.
McConnell was in Kentucky to tout a US-Spain treaty he helped pass that cut the taxes for the North American Stainless plant in Carroll County.
While there, McConnell said he was “sorry Matt came up short.” He added that “barring some dramatic reversal on the recanvass, we’ll have a different governor in three weeks.”
Bevin has cited voting irregularities in the governor’s race but did not provide evidence.
As the Nov. 5 election results came from Kentucky and Virginia, social media posts offered an unsubstantiated explanation for Republican losses: voter fraud.
The messages seized on small-scale voting issues or pushed inaccurate reports to question all the results, including the defeat of Kentucky’s Bevin and the victory of Democrats who won control of the Virginia Legislature.
The posts claimed thousands of dead people voted and other voters were turned away or given misprinted ballots. One Twitter user suggested new voting machines led to sweeping errors.
Election officials said the elections experienced only minor disruptions, not widespread fraud.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology political science professor Charles Stewart III said the posts provide a glimpse into the type of misinformation that could cloud the 2020 presidential race.
