Recount ordered in repeat election for Georgia House seat after tally shows 2-vote difference

A recount was ordered Monday in the repeat election for a Georgia House seat after a tally showed the incumbent losing by two votes.

State Rep. Dan Gasaway's attorney, Jake Evans, said the Homer Republican sought the recount in his race against GOP challenger Chris Erwin after exploring his legal options.

“If any election shows that every vote counts, it is this one,” Evans said. “We anxiously await the recount results.”

Gasaway’s campaign asked for the recount Monday, and Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden ordered it later in the day.

The repeat election was ordered by a judge because dozens of voters received ballots for the wrong districts in the May GOP primary. No Democrat was on the ballot, so the winner will represent the district spanning three northeast Georgia counties.

After about a dozen outstanding provisional and absentee ballots were tallied earlier this month, Erwin's lead over Gasaway narrowed from three votes to two votes.

Erwin has declared victory and said he's ready to "put campaign politics behind us," while Gasaway has questioned whether Habersham County officials wrongly accepted two provisional ballots.

It’s the last unsettled state Georgia election after a grueling cycle that included 10 days of confusion over the outcome of the race for governor and a four-week sprint to a runoff that left Republicans in control of every statewide office but with diminished majorities in the Legislature.