The retained source set supports a narrow account of the 2024 Colorado House District 16 finish. Initial late-count reporting had Rebecca Keltie ahead of Stephanie Vigil by seven votes, 20,640 to 20,633. The official pre-recount/canvassed figure in the Secretary of State recount order was Keltie 20,641, Vigil 20,635, a six-vote margin. The official December 5 recount outcome was Keltie 20,641, Vigil 20,638, a three-vote margin.
The difference between the six-vote pre-recount figure and the three-vote final result is officially represented as a +3 net change for Vigil during the recount. Contemporaneous reporting and Vigil's own December 5 statement describe a more granular sequence: the mandatory recount initially brought the race to a tie, then canvass-board review reversed or rejected three Vigil votes. The current retained source set does not include the official county adjudication worksheet or amended abstract documenting those three ballots.
Vigil publicly explored "legal remedies" on December 5, then said on December 11 that she would not challenge the result. Colorado Politics reported that she cited unresolved questions about ballot adjudication, consultation with legal experts and family, the toll of the prior two years, and the burden of an additional fight. Her stated reason reads as legal/procedural plus strategic and personal/emotional, not primarily financial.
| Stage | Date | Keltie | Vigil | Margin | Source basis | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Late unofficial / final unofficial reporting | 2024-11-14 to 2024-11-15 | 20,640 |
20,633 |
Keltie +7 |
KRDO retained capture; CPR was found in search but direct capture was blocked | Unofficial result before final canvass upload. |
| SOS recount order / original canvassed count | 2024-11-25 | 20,641 |
20,635 |
Keltie +6 |
SOS recount order PDF | The race moved from the seven-vote reported unofficial margin to a six-vote original certified/canvassed margin before the mandatory recount. |
| Mandatory recount outcome, official SOS presentation | 2024-12-05 | 20,641 |
20,638 |
Keltie +3 |
SOS recount outcome release | Official final result; SOS reports Keltie +/- 0, Vigil +3. |
| Tie-then-canvass-board sequence | 2024-12-05 | 20,641 |
tie reported before three-vote reversal | Keltie +3 after board action |
Denver7 and Colorado Politics retained captures | Reporting and Vigil's statement distinguish recount retabulation from canvass-board adjudication, but official county documentation is still missing. |
The automatic/mandatory recount had already occurred. C.R.S. 1-10.5-101 required it after the canvass board certified the original count inside the statutory threshold, and C.R.S. 1-10.5-102 placed the order with the Secretary of State for state/district offices.
A requested recount under C.R.S. 1-10.5-106 was not a clean post-December 5 option. That section applies when a recount is not required, allows one request by an interested party, requires the interested party to pay certified funds, and for the 2024 general election would have required request/payment deadlines before or around late November/early December. By December 5, HD-16 had already undergone the mandatory recount and the requested-recount window was not the relevant vehicle.
A recount-conduct challenge under C.R.S. 1-10.5-109 could exist where an interested party has reasonable grounds that the recount is not being conducted in a fair, impartial, and uniform manner. The source set does not show Vigil filed such a challenge.
The clearest remaining contest route for a state House seat was C.R.S. 1-11-208. Any eligible elector of HD-16 could contest the election; the contestor had to file a verified statement with the Secretary of State within ten days after completion of the official abstract of votes cast, serve the contestee, and file $15,000 in escrow conditioned to pay costs if the contest failed. Each house of the General Assembly hears contests of its own members.
The filing-history row closest to the decision is the December 10, 2024 report of contributions and expenditures, covering 2024-10-24 through 2024-12-05, filed 2024-12-10 11:45 PM. The retained committee-detail page shows the next election-cycle beginning balance as $17,980.67 on 2024-12-06, which this pass treats as the December 5 ending balance pending a filing-image check.
| Filing / window | Contributions | Expenditures | Loan activity | Balance / net | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec. 10 report period, 2024-10-24 to 2024-12-05 |
$13,683.28 |
$27,082.65 |
$0.00 |
$17,980.67 ending balance; inferred beginning $31,380.04 |
Closest filed report to the December 11 no-challenge statement. |
2024-11-06 to 2024-12-11 |
$1,095.62 |
$6,683.92 |
$0.00 |
$5,588.30 net outflow |
Not a filing period; useful decision-window slice. |
2024-12-05 to 2024-12-11 |
$305.00 |
$3,513.55 |
$0.00 |
$3,208.55 net outflow |
Captures after-SOS-outcome activity visible in bulk rows. |
Notable post-election expenditures include PE STRATEGIES ($1,768.00 on 2024-11-06), DIVERGENT DELIVERABLES ($752.50 on 2024-11-23 and another $752.50 on 2024-12-10), and NORA BROWN ($2,700.00 on 2024-12-05), plus smaller processing, software, food, office, and advertising expenses.
The retained bulk rows do not show December-window loans. They do show a prior 2022 loan origination of $4,500.00 and 2024 loan payments totaling $4,859.55. This pass did not retrieve the actual December 10 filing image or a debt/obligation schedule, so it should not be used to say the committee had no obligations.
The source set does not support a confident claim that Vigil had enough money to fund "a further recount." First, the relevant post-December 5 vehicle was not a straightforward requested recount; HD-16 had already received the mandatory recount, and the statutory requested-recount window was not a clear remaining path. Second, the only retained HD-16 cost figure is KRDO's reported pre-recount estimate that the automatic recount would cost about $20,000 and 70 hours. That estimate is an analog for scale, not an actual requested-recount bill to Vigil.
The committee had a TRACER accounting balance of about $17,980.67 at the close of the December 10 reporting period. That is below the reported $20,000 automatic-recount estimate, above the $15,000 escrow requirement for a legislative election contest, and not a bank-statement/liquidity verification. The safer finding is indeterminate to unsupported: the committee had money on hand, but retained sources do not prove that it had enough liquid, uncommitted funds to justify or pay for any legally available post-recount action.
The retained source set verifies that Vigil said she consulted legal experts and talked with her partner and family. It does not show party actors, donors, campaign staff, lawyers, or allies pushing her for or against further action. Do not infer pressure or coordination from silence.
+3 recount change for Vigil.