GOP Auditor's race still a nail-biter, recount possible

By Kevin Lavery & Bill Raack, KWMU

St. Louis, MO – A few more precincts were reported to state election officials this (Wed), and the woman leading the Republican race for state Auditor has gained a few dozen votes.

Sandra Thomas now leads state representative Jack Jackson by 1,799 votes, with only 17 precincts left to report.

A lot of those remaining precincts, though, are from Jackson's home St. Louis County.

The winner will face Democrat Susan Montee, who is the current auditor of Buchanan County, and Libertarian Charles Baum.

If Thomas holds onto her lead, campaign manager Ryan Johnson says Thomas's goal will be certain.

"Her mission is to restore public accountability; to restore professionalism to the auditor's office," Johnson said Tuesday. "[Thomas is] a professional CPA, she's not a politician, and you're not going to see that message change during the general election."

Jackson did not concede Tuesday night and instead thanked his staff and volunteers who got out the vote. "It is to them that got me this far. I just happened to be the pointy end of the spear. They were the strong part that kept pushing me on. And you just can't say enough about the volunteers and the people that believe in you," Jackson said.

Thomas and Jackson currently are separated by less than 1%, which could set up the chance for a recount. If the candidate with the fewer votes requests a recount, it's granted automatically at no cost to the candidate.