Boebert claims victory in District 3 race; likely headed to a mandatory recount

COLORADO (KRDO) -- UPDATE: Republican incumbent Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has claimed victory in the race to represent Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. 26 of the 27 counties in House District 3 have reported final election results, with Otero County being the last county to report final results. Final election results are due Friday by 5 p.m.

Boebert's lead of 551 votes on Thursday night is well within the margin of victory to trigger an automatic recount in Colorado.

ORIGINAL: For over a week, many voters have waited for the final ballot.

As of 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Republican incumbent Congresswoman Lauren Boebert was in the lead by a few hundred votes over her Democratic challenger Adam Frisch for Colorado's 3rd Congressional District seat.

In the last nine days, several counties in District 3 worked to get the final numbers of votes. Colorado is one of 38 states that allow for mail-in or absentee ballots turned into a ballot box to be counted before election day.

However, some election officials said ballots that are dropped off on election day create a lengthier ballot-counting process.

According to officials, however, nearly all of Colorado's counties had all votes tallied and counted on election night. The election process playing out now are preliminary results.

The Secretary of State's Office has until December 5, to compile official results in all election races.