Mo. House votes to pare back election recounts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri House has passed legislation limiting the ability of losing candidates to seek recounts in close elections.

Under current Missouri law, losing candidates can get recounts whenever their margin of defeat is less than 1 percentage point.

Legislation that passed by a 122-32 vote Wednesday would allow recounts only when the margin is less than one-half of a percentage point. The bill now goes to the state Senate

Sponsoring Rep. Tony Dugger, a Republican from Hartville, said Missouri's county clerks' association suggested the change as a way to save time and money. Dugger says today's electronic vote-tabulating machines are more accurate than methods of counting used in the past.