TUSCALOOSA — The Bentley for Governor campaign has called for an immediate halt to hand counting of undervotes in all counties in the state.

An undervote has a proper mark for other candidates for other races on the same ballot, meaning the voter presumably knows how to properly mark the ballot but decided not to vote for any candidate for governor. Tim James’ recount to determine if he is the runner-up in the Republican primary for governor began today in some counties.

Campaign manager Bryan Sanders said, “Today the Bentley campaign calls for an immediate halt to the hand counting of undervotes, considered by election law experts to be the go-to method for a defeated candidate to steal an election in a recount.

“The AP report of irregularities in Jefferson County, as well as reports of hand counting of undervotes by untrained volunteers in Pike and Montgomery counties underscores our position that a petition-based recount administered by untrained volunteers is less accurate and less reliable than the original count administered by qualified election professionals sworn to uphold the Constitution of Alabama and of the United States.”

Sanders also said any discrepancies between the total number of votes cast in the recount and cast on election day need to be fully explained and understood and must not include hand-counted undervotes, “or it will be impossible to have any confidence in the accuracy of the recount.”