By BOB MOENAssociated Press writer
Posted: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - New unofficial results from counties show all three candidates gaining votes in Wyoming's tight U.S. House race and Republican incumbent Barbara Cubin increasing her lead over Democratic challenger Gary Trauner.
The county vote totals, derived from each county canvassing their results since the Nov. 7 election, won't be official until the State Canvassing Board reviews them on Wednesday.
The Associated Press has not officially called the race, pending the State Canvassing Board's review, because of the narrow margin between Cubin and Trauner.
The new county vote totals show Cubin ahead of Trauner by 1,012 votes out of 193,369 cast. The margin is too great to mandate an automatic recount, according to state election director Peggy Nighswonger.
"(There's) nothing that will bring us to a mandatory recount unless the State Canvassing Board would call for one for some reason," Nighswonger said Monday. "They won't decide to have one, I'm sure, because we didn't have any irregularities."
In addition, no candidates in the race have requested a recount. Candidates have up to two days after the State Canvassing Board meets to seek a recount.
Trauner said last week he did not plan to ask for a recount while the state certified the election results. He said he would be satisfied with the outcome if there were no voting and counting problems that might question the veracity of the results.
According to the unofficial returns as of Monday, Cubin collected 93,336 votes, Trauner 92,324, and Libertarian Thomas Rankin 7,481. Before the county canvassing was completed, the preliminary results had Cubin with 93,197 votes, Trauner with 92,227 and Rankin with 7,465.
Cubin gained 139 votes from last week, Trauner added 97 and Rankin 16.
The secretary of state's office listed 2,720 voters who did not cast ballots in the race and 228 write-in votes for others.
There also were no changes in any other statewide race or state ballot issues from the county canvassing, Nighswonger said.