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Vermont Legislature
Follow VPR's statehouse coverage, featuring Pete Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel in our Statehouse Bureau in Montpelier.

After Failing To Win Re-Election, Longtime State Sen. Bill Doyle Wants A Recount

Taylor Dobbs
/
VPR/file
Washington Sen. Bill Doyle was first elected to the Vermont Senate in 1968. On Tuesday, Doyle failed to secure re-election, trailing his closest rival by 187 votes.

Longtime Washington Sen. Bill Doyle has made the formal request for a vote recount, after placing fourth in his three-member district on Election Day. He is trailing Democrat Francis Brooks by 187 votes.

Doyle, Vermont's longest-serving state senator, was first elected to the Vermont Senate from Washington County in 1968, and since that time has been re-elected 23 times.

State election law allows candidates to ask for a recount if the margin of victory is less than 2 percent of the vote. Doyle on Thursday made the request for a recount.

"When you have a close race, most legislators ask for a recount," Doyle explained. "I think the people who sent us here would probably like to know the results."

Doyle points out there was another candidate named Mike Doyle on the ballot, and he believes his fourth-place showing is because some voters may have been confused.

This marks the second time that Brooks has been involved in a recount this year.

He won a spot on the Democratic ticket in the August primary after a recount showed him with a winning margin of just one vote.

Bob Kinzel has been covering the Vermont Statehouse since 1981 — longer than any continuously serving member of the Legislature. With his wealth of institutional knowledge, he answers your questions on our series, "Ask Bob."
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