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Close sheriff's race in Arizona headed for a recount

Less than 500 votes separate the two candidates vying to be Pima County's sheriff.

PIMA COUNTY, Ariz. — One of the most competitive races in Arizona is now headed for recount.

As of Nov. 19, Democrat Chris Nanos was winning the race for Pima County sheriff by only 495 votes. The incumbent's lead over Republican Heather Lappin was only 0.2%, satisfying the legal threshold for triggering an automatic recount.

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The Pima County Board of Supervisors have called for a special meeting on Nov. 21 to start the process of petitioning the courts to begin the recount process in the close sheriff's race.

Once the county receives the court order, then the recount process will start and could take several days.

“We must run all ballots through the tabulator and adjudicate any ballots for Sheriff," Elections Director Constance Hargrove said in a statement. "There were 518,466 ballots casts in the election, which equates to over 1 million cards. It will likely take about 14 calendar days to complete the recount.”  

Other Democrats running for county seats in Pima County won their races by wide margins. Gabriella Cazares-Kelly's victory in the county recorder's race was called days ago after the Democrat maintained a 19-point lead over the Republican candidate.

The sheriff's race was mired in controversy before Election Day after Lappin, who currently works under Nanos in the sheriff's department, was placed on leave.

The decision was met with criticisms from other Democrats like Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz, who has called for Arizona's attorney general to investigate Nanos.

Nanos lost the 2016 sheriff's race to Republican Mark Napier. But he won four years later in a rematch against Napier that was determined by a couple thousand of votes.

RELATED: Pima County supervisor calls for censure and investigation of Sheriff Chris Nanos

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