News Briefs

Recount confirms Betts' loss to Montgomery in St. Louis sheriff primary

St. Louis Public Radio | By Rachel Lippmann

Published September 4, 2024 at 3:02 PM CDT

Alfred Montgomery watches as elections workers retabulate the results of the August 2024 primary for the St. Louis’ Sherriff’s race on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, at the St. Louis Board of Elections in downtown St. Louis. — Alfred Montgomery watches as election workers retabulate the results of the August Democratic primary for St. Louis sheriff on Wednesday at the St. Louis Board of Elections.

Vernon Betts has lost reelection as St. Louis sheriff.

A machine recount conducted Tuesday and Wednesday of ballots from the Aug. 6 Democratic primary confirmed that former sheriff’s deputy Alfred Montgomery defeated Betts.

“The citizens of St Louis have spoken,” Montgomery said Wednesday after officials announced the results. “Now it's time to move our sheriff's office forward.”

Sheriff Vernon Betts explains bureaucratic red tape they have to go through to release Lamar Johnson on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, outside of the Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis. — Sheriff Vernon Betts speaks in February outside the Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.

Elections officials did the recount because Montgomery’s initial margin of victory of 256 votes was within 1%. While Montgomery’s margin of victory narrowed, the result remained the same.

Betts was first elected in 2016, defeating a longtime incumbent.

The outcome of the recount was typical. A 2023 report by FairVote, a nonpartisan group that advocates for ranked choice voting, found that of nearly 7,000 statewide general elections between 2000 and 2023, there were 36 statewide recounts. Just three of those caused a reversal in the results. In all of those cases, the initial margin was less than 0.06% of votes cast.