Utah politicians - including House Speaker Greg Curtis - whose slim election leads warrant recounts, may learn their fate as early as next week.

Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says it should take her staff two days to tally both paper and computer ballots, then another two to three days for an audit. Her team will start the recount as soon as the candidates file a request.

Nearly 10,000 outstanding ballots - a blend of absentee, provisional and paper votes - were added to the election night totals during Tuesday's canvass. The new margins cast three races into a recount - two House districts in Sandy and a Jordan School Board seat. The highest profile is Curtis' House District 49.

A troupe of Republican operatives, including Curtis' campaign manager, the county GOP chairman, lobbyists and an attorney hired by the state party to oversee the vote count crammed into a meeting room for the canvass Tuesday. Most sat expressionless but clearly were nervous. The speaker led by just 46 votes with 265 ballots to tabulate. Seconds after the announcement he had survived - by 19 votes - the politicos pounced on their BlackBerries.

Jay Seegmiller, an Amtrak employee who had unexpectedly pushed one of Utah's most powerful politicians to the brink, was more relaxed. He met with reporters, moseyed around the room and managed several smiles.

"It's a lot more important for Mr. Curtis," Seegmiller said later. "Certainly, there is a lot more at stake for him than me. For me, life goes on."

The recount leaves Curtis in an awkward position.

He is trying to plan for the next session and prepare for a possible special session next week to vote on a redistricting proposal.

Curtis said he would just push forward.

"I can't ask the whole entire legislative process to be put on hold for my election," he said.

Swensen, a Democrat who just won re-election herself, will not be part of the recount process. Instead, her County Government Center staff will "upload" the memory cards and re-run the optical-scan paper ballots that pertain to the precincts in question.

"The most time-consuming part will be doing that paper-trail comparison to the electronic votes," she said.

After the count is done, it must be checked, according to election dictates from Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert. A combination of poll workers and non-clerk county employees will conduct the audit, reviewing 5 percent of the machines used in those precincts.

"We've tried to make sure it is outside, independent people," Swensen noted.

Both parties will dispatch attorneys to oversee next week's recount, though nobody expects the speaker's slim edge or the others to flip.

"I can't imagine that they would," Swensen added. "I don't expect it."

Laura Black who is now 18 votes behind Sandy Republican Rep. Mark Walker said she has her fingers crossed, but isn't too optimistic.

"We just keep coming down by half," Black said. "With a recount, another half won't do it."

Still, election observers note, the new voting equipment introduces an unknown dynamic.

"You're only talking less than one vote per precinct," said Utah Democratic Party chairman Wayne Holland. "So, you never know."

djensen@sltrib.com

mcanham@sltrib.com

Waiting

for recounts

HOUSE 45

* Margin: 18 votes

* Mark Walker: R (i) - 3,810

* Laura Black: D - 3,792

HOUSE 49

* Margin: 19 votes

* Greg Curtis: R (i) - 4,579

* Jay Seegmiller: D - 4,560

JORDAN SCHOOL BOARD NO. 6

* Margin: 12 votes

* Tracy Cowdell: 3,944

* Lynette Phillips: 3,932