Roy Moore isn't ruling out asking for a recount in his failed bid for the U.S. Senate.
That doesn't mean it will happen or is even allowed, however.
Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones on Tuesday night by some 20,000 votes - 650,436 votes, or 48 percent, to 671,151, or 50 percent. Moore has refused to concede the race to Jones, saying he will wait until all provisional and military ballots are counted and the race is certified.
According to Secretary of State John Merrill, the final results will be certified no earlier than Dec. 26 and no later than Jan. 3. Moore hopes the margin is close enough - under 0.5 percent - to trigger an automatic recount.
"Realize when the vote is this close, it's not over," Moore told supporters Tuesday night. "And we still got to go by the rules about this recount provision. It's not over, and it's going to take some time."
There are several recount-related scenarios:
If Jones' final margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent...
If the final total - including provisional and military ballots - are counted and the difference between the two candidates is less than 0.5 percent, an automatic recount provision could be triggered unless waived by the losing candidate.
The state would pay for the recount.
Merrill said he does not believe the final count will change the total to within the automatic recount margin.
"I know a lot of people would say it's never over until it's over, but the margin of victory for Doug Jones at this particular time looks like a very difficult amount of votes to overcome as the remaining votes that are out there to be counted next week begin to be considered at the local level," Merrill told CNN.
If Jones' margin of victory is more than 0.5 percent...
This scenario gets murkier
Alabama's election handbook spells out several offices that are not included in state laws for contesting elections: lieutenant governor, U.S. senator, and U.S. representative.
There are other provisions, however, that indicate a candidate or political party could request a recount.
"It's our contention the votes can be recounted," John Bennett, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Secretary of State's office told AL.com. "We contend that authority is there."
Bennett said, however, that the office will not make a determination on a recount until after the ballots are certified.
"We're not at that point," he said.
$1 million recount
If Moore is allowed to request a recount, it will be at his expense and that could be considerable.
Merrill told Fortune the cost of recount would be between $1 million and $1.5 million and the total amount must be put up when the request is made. Moore's most recent financial report showed he had about $636,000 cash on hand.
It's also unlikely the Alabama Republican Party - which backed Moore even after the national GOP temporarily suspended its support - would be willing to help fund a recount.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan issue a statement after Jones' win saying "the race is over."
"While we are deeply disappointed in the extremely close U.S. Senate election results, with our candidate Judge Roy Moore, we respect the voting process given to us by our Founding Fathers," Lathan said.