Longtime Washington Sen. Bill Doyle has made the formal request for a vote recount, after placing fourth in his three-member district on Election Day. He is trailing Democrat Francis Brooks by 187 votes.
Doyle, Vermont's longest-serving state senator, was first elected to the Vermont Senate from Washington County in 1968, and since that time has been re-elected 23 times.
State election law allows candidates to ask for a recount if the margin of victory is less than 2 percent of the vote. Doyle on Thursday made the request for a recount.
"When you have a close race, most legislators ask for a recount," Doyle explained. "I think the people who sent us here would probably like to know the results."
Doyle points out there was another candidate named Mike Doyle on the ballot, and he believes his fourth-place showing is because some voters may have been confused.
This marks the second time that Brooks has been involved in a recount this year.
He won a spot on the Democratic ticket in the August primary after a recount showed him with a winning margin of just one vote.
