But Alabama law requires an automatic recount only if an election is within 0.5%, and Doug Jones’ election-night lead over Moore is three times that much. The Alabama secretary of state said it’s very unlikely that Jones “is not the winner.” Recounts can change a few dozen or hundred votes, but Moore trails Jones by more than 20,000 votes, an impossible hurdle to overcome in a recount.
However, given the normal election certification schedule under Alabama law, Jones won’t claim the Senate seat now occupied by Republican Luther Strange before Jan. 3, 2018, which might not be soon enough to stop the widely unpopular GOP tax bill from passing and going to President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of this month.