Kentucky will conduct a recanvass of Tuesday night’s election, which made Attorney General Andy Beshear the governor elect, next Thursday at 9 a.m.

In a Wednesday afternoon tweet, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said her office received the request from incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin, who trailed Beshear by 5,189 votes, according to the Kentucky State Board of Elections.

“We want to ensure, above all else, that the integrity of the process is a good one,” Bevin said when he explained his recanvass request at the governor’s mansion on Wednesday. 

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Bevin also said he heard reports of people being wrongly turned away at the polls, and that was something that would be looked into while they await the recanvass.

Though Grimes’ office called the gubernatorial race in favor of Beshear, Bevin refused to concede, saying there were “more than a few irregularities” with the results and he would not concede the race by “any stretch.”

“They are very well corroborated and that’s alright,” Bevin said. “What they are exactly, how many, which ones and what effect they have will be determined according to law that’s well established.”

A recanvass isn’t unlikely and is minor, said Scott Lasley, the WKU Political Science department head.

There is a difference between recanvassing and recounting, however, Lasley said. A recanvass “double checks the math” in each precinct, where as a recount — which Lasley described as more labor intensive and costly — counts each ballot again and would have to be paid for by Bevin’s team.

But a recount is out of the question for the gubernatorial race. Grimes told the Louisville Courier Journal that state law doesn’t allow candidates to request a recount.

“Normally, if you’re talking about any other statewide race beyond governor and lieutenant governor, you would involve a recount, which involves the court,” Grimes said. “But here, the law specifically excludes governor and lieutenant governor for recall procedures.”

Bevin took aim at Grimes during his press conference Wednesday. 

“The fact that our secretary of state was on a national TV show — which I hesitate to suggest to anybody that anyone is partisan in the world of media — that said, it was an interesting choice of places for her to go while the roll was being tallied, the votes were being tallied,” Bevin said. 

“For her to try to jump the gun on this and interject herself on this, well that is something that’s being looked into,” he added.

Print Managing Editor Laurel Deppen can be reached at laurel.deppen[email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @laurel_deppen.