As Wednesday’s deadline for ballot curing came and went, Mike McLachlan’s flickering chance of winning the 59th House District dimmed.

According to Tiffany Parker, La Plata County clerk and recorder, McLachlan had picked up a few dozen votes in La Plata County since Election Day. But as of the final tally of La Plata County cured ballots Wednesday night, McLachlan was still trailing Republican challenger J. Paul Brown by 163 votes districtwide.

Brown had 17,246 to McLachlan’s 17,083, with 34,329 votes cast in total across the district.

Since Election Day, McLachlan has run up his vote total in La Plata County, getting 11,949 to Brown’s 10,621.

But it wasn’t enough to tip the scales.

Parker said the 0.95 percent margin of difference wasn’t close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

She cautioned that other counties may still need to file updated numbers that reflect ballots being cured with the secretary of state’s office.

Given the new numbers in La Plata County, mathematically, at this point, a path to a McLachlan victory is hard to conceive.

With Brown appearing to be the probable winner the day after the election, McLachlan refused to concede.

In a telephone interview Wednesday night, he reiterated that he was not yet giving up, saying more votes might show up once Gunnison reports its final numbers.

“I’m going to wait till all the votes are in,” he said.

Last week, Brown said he was confident that his lead would prove resilient.

“I think our numbers are going to hold up,” he said.

“The way we’re seeing it, it’s pretty much a done deal.”

On Wednesday night, it seemed like his confidence was well-founded.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com