TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Only 24 votes separate second and third place in the city commission seat three primary, and the race is on course for a recount.
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley said the next few days will determine who advances to face PJ Perez for seat 3 in November. A canvassing board is meeting Thursday afternoon to decide which provisional and vote-by-mail ballots count.
“So right now, I think I understand that the difference is 0.06%. So it’s extremely tight,” Earley said. “We planned for this. So we’ve got the whole schedule for conducting the recount.”
Voters whose mail-in ballots need fixing, such as missing signatures or an ID issue, have until Friday to cure them, or their vote won’t count. Officials urged that anyone who has been told to ‘cure’ their ballot contact their office as soon as possible.
Both candidates said they’re feeling positive about their chances of advancing to the general election.
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“When the goal is to make it to the runoff, one vote could get you to the runoff, or a thousand. So we landed where we needed to be, and it feels good to have the trust of the people and to have this momentum moving towards November,” Derzypolski said.
The candidate continued that he’s confident in the vote tallying process at the supervisor of elections office.
“Having an abundance of respect for the process and the supervisor of elections. Totally at peace that things will be done well. And I want people’s votes to be counted, whatever they were.”
Commission candidate Talethia Edwards did not agree to an interview Wednesday but shared a statement.
“This race remains extremely close, with just 24 votes separating us in the unofficial results. Provisional ballots are still outstanding, and the official canvassing process is not complete. Every lawful vote deserves to be counted.”
She added that her campaign will participate fully in the canvass and any required recount, and she’ll remain patient and respectful while awaiting official results.
On the other end, PJ Perez said he’s looking forward to meeting with the community as the general election approaches.
“I’m excited for the next couple of months of just getting out and knocking on more doors and meeting more people and weaving myself into people’s families. It’s all just hearing everybody’s stories and seeing how we can be the best service to the community,” Perez said.
Local Democratic Data Consultant Matthew Isbell said November voters can be unpredictable.
“You absolutely could have a split there. Because we’ve seen it already. The voters in this city are making unique decisions. We’ll see if that holds. It could always change. And we could see a very firm slate in November. But it also is easily, history says that it doesn’t have to be that way,” Isbell said.
First unofficial results are due by noon Friday, which could then officially trigger the recount, a machine recount Saturday, followed by a manual recount Monday if needed.
Officials say we can expect an update by Sunday afternoon, with final results Monday.
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