Box Elder Incumbent Loses Primary by 3 Votes

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana Secretary of State's office says state Rep. Tony Belcourt of Box Elder has lost his Democratic primary election by three votes.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Terri Knapp says her office received the final tallies from the House District 32 race on Wednesday morning, including provisional and absentee ballots. The results were Belcourt with 368 votes and Clarena Brocki of Harlem with 371 votes.

There is no Republican challenger for the seat.

Belcourt says he will ask for a recount to ensure the votes were counted fairly and accurately.

Knapp says that the difference in the votes is less than half of 1 percent, which means Belcourt must pay for the recount.

The state would pay if the difference had been less than a quarter of a percent.