Karen Langston isn’t ready to give up just yet on regaining a seat on the Sedgwick County district court bench.
Langston trailed incumbent Warren Wilbert by only 444 votes Monday, after provisional ballots were counted. This afternoon, Langston asked for a recount of the paper ballots at a cost of $15,000, county election commissioner Bill Gale said.
Kansas law provides for free recounts only for statewide and national offices. The county will absorb the cost if the recount shows Langston the winner. Otherwise, she’ll have to pay.
After election day last week, Wilbert had a 1,067-vote advantage. But the Republican saw that lead more than cut in half as provisional ballots were counted.
Wilbert has been a judge since 1995 but faced his first contested election this year after being publicly disciplined by the state judicial ethics commission in 2006.
Langston served as district court judge from 2000 to 2004 as a Republican before switching parties to run against Wilbert. If she prevails, she would be the only woman to win a race for the Sedgwick County bench in this election.