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El Salvador RPCV John Kefalas held a two-vote lead Tuesday night in the Democratic primary election for state House District 52
El Salvador RPCV John Kefalas held a two-vote lead Tuesday night in the Democratic primary election for state House District 52
Recount for Bertschy-Kefalas
2 votes separate House 52 rivals
By MATTHEW BENSON
MattBenson@coloradoan.com
John Kefalas held a two-vote lead Tuesday night in the Democratic primary election for state House District 52, setting up days of anxious waiting and a likely recount.
"I think we feel good we're in the lead," said Kefalas, a longtime community activist and lobbyist for Catholic Charities Northern. "It shows every vote counts. Every vote matters."
Rival Bill Bertschy, a Fort Collins city councilman, led through much of the evening with initial ballot counts but saw that lead disappear with final precincts reporting.
The unofficial vote tally: Kefalas, 2,316. Bertschy, 2,314.
"We've got to wait and see, obviously," Bertschy said. "It's very frustrating. You want to know whether we're moving on to the next stage or not."
That next stage involves a Nov. 2 general election race against incumbent Rep. Bob McCluskey, a Fort Collins Republican.
First things first. Kefalas and Bertschy are optimistically, if anxiously, waiting for a final batch of absentee and provisional ballots to be counted.
Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle said that batch consists of roughly 60 absentee ballots and 100 provisional ballots.
Provisional ballots are issued to people who claim to be registered but cannot be immediately found on precinct lists or county records.
If judged legitimate, the ballots will be added to the vote totals in the coming days. The county will begin checking the remaining ballots immediately, Doyle said, but it has until Aug. 22 to verify and count provisional ballots.
While some ballots remain, Doyle noted Tuesday that "it's beginning to smell like recount."
Under state law, a recount is required if the difference is less than or equal to half of 1 percent of the votes for the top vote-getter in a race. Based on the number of votes Kefalas had Tuesday night, he would have needed 10 more votes to avoid a recount.
Leading by the slimmest of margins, Kefalas was upbeat Tuesday.
"At least we know we're ahead," he said. "I feel good that we're gonna prevail."
His primary battle with Bertschy was the hardest-fought local race -- and certainly the closest. Bertschy has campaigned on his seven years of experience with City Council, as well as his educational know-how from 30 years as director of Colorado State University's Pingree Park campus.
Kefalas hasn't held elected office but is well-known nonetheless through his community work with Catholic Charities Northern and other groups. He has said his time as a Capitol lobbyist would serve him well as a lawmaker because he's already familiar with the system.
But questions were raised about Kefalas' candidacy in the waning days of the campaign as he acknowledged not paying his federal income taxes during the 1980s and part of the 1990s and that he continues to avoid his federal telephone excise tax.
Kefalas is a longtime social activist and war protester and explained that he didn't pay the taxes as part of his resistance of taxes that benefit the military.
Originally published Wednesday, August 11, 2004