Democrat Mary Salas is raising money to pay for a recount in the 40th state senate district election. Salas wants to review her primary defeat by only 22 votes.
State Assemblywoman Salas wants a manual recount of last month's Democratic primary. But she must pay for it herself and start the process within a week. Salas said recounting the votes in San Diego and Riverside Counties could cost $100,000. Even so, Salas said calling for a recount was a no-brainer.
"With this small number of votes, it's well within the margin of error," she said. "And I believe the people of the 40th Senate District deserve their vote to be counted correctly."
Salas lost the tight contest to former state Assemblyman Juan Vargas. The 40th district spans three counties but Salas chose not to recount votes in Imperial County where Vargas won handily. There's a lot riding on this primary because the winner is expected to easily win the general election in the heavily Democratic district.