A recount of ballots cast for the new 8th Congressional District is going on today. The County registrar of voters said Republican candidate Phillip Liberatore, requested a recount of 24 precincts. Liberatore finished third in the race, 240 votes behind Assemblyman Paul Cook, who finished second to Gregg Imus. Imus and Cook are slated to face each other in the November general election. The massive 8th Congressional district runs from the Nevada border as far west as Highland and Crestline, south and east from Bridgeport to Needles and the Colorado River including our Morongo basin communities. The new district had 13 candidates in the primary. Liberatore paid $11,335 for the first day’s recount. He will pay roughly $6,000 for each day after that. Workers will recount the ballots by hand. The ballots were initially scanned and counted by machine.
