Recount Rules 2026: The Margins That Trigger a Recount in 6 States, and the Deadlines

A recount is automatic at a margin of one-half of one percent (0.5%) or less of the votes cast in Arizona and Florida, according to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) 16-661 and Florida Statutes 102.141, and Florida’s results from the Nov. 3, 2026 election are due by 3 p.m. on Thu., Nov. 12. Ohio’s automatic line is less than 0.5% for county and local contests and less than 0.25% statewide. Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina wait for a request. The table below compares six states; the rules come from each state’s statute or official page, read on Nov. 4, 2026.

Recount margins and deadlines in six states

“Votes cast” means the votes in that contest. The Florida date is our computation: the statute says results are due on the 9th day after the election, and the 9th day after Tue., Nov. 3, 2026 is Thu., Nov. 12. Other deadlines depend on when a state certifies, so the table gives the rule rather than a date. Our story on when 2026 election results are certified has the certification dates; the printable below carries this table.

State	Type	Margin that triggers it	Deadline for the Nov. 3, 2026 election	Statute or source
Arizona	Automatic	“less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the number of votes cast”	No request needed	A.R.S. 16-661
Florida	Automatic machine recount	“one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast for such office or measure”	Results due 3 p.m. Thu., Nov. 12, 2026	Florida Statutes 102.141
Florida	Manual recount	“one-quarter of a percent or less of the votes cast for such office” (second set of unofficial returns)	Follows the second set of unofficial returns	Florida Statutes 102.166
Georgia	Requested by a candidate	Less than or equal to 0.5%	Within 2 business days of certification	Georgia.gov, Election Recount Rules in Georgia
Michigan	Requested by petition	Automatic rule is in the Recount Manual (April 2025)	5 p.m. on the 2nd day after the Board of State Canvassers certifies	Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL) 168.879
North Carolina	Candidate demand, statewide ballot items	0.5% of votes cast in the ballot item, or 10,000 votes, whichever is less	Noon on the 2nd business day after the county canvass	N.C. General Statutes 163-182.7
North Carolina	Candidate demand, nonstatewide items	1% of total votes cast in the ballot item	Noon on the 2nd business day after the county canvass	N.C. General Statutes 163-182.7
Ohio	Automatic, county and local contests	Less than one-half of one per cent of the total vote	No request needed	Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 3515.011
Ohio	Automatic, statewide contests	Less than one-fourth of one per cent of the total vote	Ordered by the secretary of state	ORC 3515.011

What is the difference between an automatic recount, a requested recount and a recount demand?

An automatic recount is ordered by the state when the margin falls inside the threshold; nobody has to ask. Arizona, Florida and Ohio work this way in the sources above. A requested recount starts with a candidate: Georgia’s official page says “a candidate can request a recount” at a margin of 0.5% or less, and North Carolina’s statute lets a candidate demand one. Michigan’s statute sets a petition deadline, and the state’s automatic rule sits in the Michigan Department of State’s Recount Manual (April 2025), which we link instead of quoting a number.

How many votes is a 0.5% margin?

The threshold is a share of the votes cast in the contest, so the same percentage means a different gap in each race. In a contest with 1,000,000 votes cast, 0.5% is 5,000 votes, 0.25% is 2,500 votes and 1% is 10,000 votes. In a contest with 200,000 votes cast, 0.5% is 1,000 votes.

North Carolina’s statewide rule adds a cap: 0.5% of the votes cast or 10,000 votes, “whichever is less.” Half of one percent reaches 10,000 votes at 2,000,000 votes cast, so the cap only matters above that. At 3,000,000 votes cast, 0.5% would be 15,000 votes, and the 10,000-vote figure applies instead.

What are Florida’s recount dates?

Florida has two steps. Under Florida Statutes 102.141, a margin of one-half of a percent or less means “a recount shall be ordered,” and results are due “no later than 3 p.m. on the 9th day after any general election in which a recount was ordered by the Secretary of State.” For the Nov. 3 election that is Thu., Nov. 12, 2026 (our computation). Florida Statutes 102.166 adds a manual recount when the second set of unofficial returns shows a margin of one-quarter of a percent or less of the votes cast for the office.

What are the Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina deadlines?

These three states run on the certification clock, so the date moves with each state’s schedule.

• Georgia: the request “has to be made within two business days of the results being certified,” according to georgia.gov. Georgia’s Dec. 1 runoff has its own dates in our runoff elections story.
• Michigan: a petition is due “not later than 5 p.m. of the second day after the day the board of state canvassers certifies the results of the election” (MCL 168.879).
• North Carolina: the demand “must be received by the State Board of Elections by noon on the second business day after the county canvass” (N.C. General Statutes 163-182.7).

For when counts become official, see when we will know the 2026 midterm results.

What about the other states?

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, New York and California set their own rules, and we have not confirmed them for this story. Check each state’s election office: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, New York and California. We also did not confirm who pays for a recount, and Ohio’s deposit and deadline for a requested recount are not in this table.

To mark deadlines once your state certifies, use our November 2026 printable calendar and December 2026 printable calendar, and the one-page printable below.