The 91-vote margin between Rep. Lynn DeCoite and Walter Ritte still hung in the balance on Monday as election officials recounted nearly 7,000 ballots in the House District 13 Democratic primary.

Maui County Clerk Kathy Kaohu said via text that the recount was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Monday “in consideration of our counting center volunteers ‘day’ job work schedules.” Shortly before 9 p.m., Kaohu estimated that it could take another one or two hours.

DeCoite held a 91-vote lead as of the latest printout Sunday morning, with 3,243 votes, or 48.2 percent, to Ritte’s 3,152 votes, or 46.9 percent. There were 313 blank votes, or 4.7 percent, and 19 over votes, or 0.3 percent.

Under a new state law, a recount is required for any race with a margin “equal to or less than 100 votes or one-quarter of one percent of the total number of votes cast for the contest, whichever is greater.”

Ritte said Monday evening that his campaign had an observer at the recount but that he hadn’t gotten any calls yet.

“That’s really strange that it’s taking them this long,” he said.

Ritte pointed out that there are two things the candidates are waiting on before they can finally call the race — first, the recount, and second, the more than 500 ballots that are unsigned or have mismatching signatures. Voters have five business days after the close of the election to fix the issue, and Kaohu was unsure on Sunday how many of them were from District 13, which covers East Maui, Molokai and Lanai.

“It’s like ho man, let’s get this thing over with so I can know what I’m gonna do,” Ritte said, adding that he might “just go in the yard and pull weeds” to pass the time.

DeCoite could not immediately be reached for comment Monday evening.

She had jumped out of the gate with the lead Saturday night with 2,717 votes, or 48.4 percent, to Ritte’s 2,613 votes, or 46.5 percent. However, Ritte had pulled within 29 votes by the next printout, with 2,731 votes, or 47.2 percent, behind DeCoite’s 2,760 votes, or 47.8 percent.

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.