Bernie Sanders' call for Kentucky recanvass could really only win him one delegate

Sanders&#039; Kentucky recall would only gain him one delegate.

(Image credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 24 May 2016

Sen. Bernie Sanders' request Tuesday for a recanvass of the results from the Kentucky Democratic presidential primary is apparently proof that he really is going to fight for every last vote he can get. Though results show a nail-bitingly close race between Sanders and Hillary Clinton, with Sanders losing by less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote, the review of voting tallies from each of Kentucky's 120 counties that Sanders' campaign has requested isn't likely to change the results much at all. The recanvass, which is different from a recount, is merely a review of voting tallies from voting machines and absentee ballots.

Both Sanders and Clinton have already won 27 delegates each from the primary contest. The only thing still up for grabs is one delegate, from the state's sixth congressional district. If the recanvass finds Sanders won that district, then he could win that last remaining delegate. However, current tallies show Clinton leading by about 500 votes in that district.

That one extra delegate is the best-case scenario for Sanders. If he isn't found to win the sixth district, but the recanvass wins him enough votes elsewhere to tip the state as a whole his way, then he'll still walk away from the recanvass in the exact same place he started: 766 delegates behind Clinton.