Recount Gives Smith 887-Vote Victory

A recount gave U.S. Rep. Linda Smith an 887-vote margin of victory Tuesday in her hotly contested race for re-election.

Three weeks after the election, the secretary of state’s office said recounts in the nine counties of the 3rd Congressional District showed Republican Smith with 123,117 votes to Democrat Brian Baird’s 122,230.

It was the closest congressional race in the state. Smith trailed Baird after all votes were tallied from Election Day, but pulled ahead by strongly outpolling him in absentee votes that were counted in subsequent days.

Because the margin ended up within one-half of 1 percent, an automatic recount was triggered. The net change was a gain of three votes for Baird.