Secretary of State Jena Griswold ordered a mandatory recount in the 3rd Congressional District race on Wednesday, saying the margin of difference is so slight between Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, that the ballots need a second tally.

Boebert leads Frisch by 550 votes out of more than 327,000 ballots cast in the Nov. 8 election, and state law mandates that any results that are within a 0.5% margin require a recount. The vote percentages now stand at 50.08% for Boebert and 49.92% for Frisch.

Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman who did far better in the red district than he was expected to, has already conceded the race to Boebert, a first-term congresswoman. But Griswold said she must follow election law.

“The results of the District 3 race reinforce the fact that every vote matters,” Griswold said in a statement. “Colorado voters have made their voices heard, and I am ordering this recount in accordance with Colorado law to confirm the will of the voters.”

The recount must be completed by Dec. 13.

The Secretary of State’s Office said the 26 counties that make up the sprawling 3rd District — in addition to a part of Eagle County — will work with their bipartisan canvass boards to complete a logic and accuracy test on the required tabulation equipment.

Then, the counties will begin recounting all ballots in the race “in the same manner they were processed during the election.” That means the counties will rescan the ballots using its tabulation equipment, except for San Juan County, which will manually recount its ballots, the office said.

Because the recount was automatically triggered, the Secretary of State’s office foots the bill.

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