TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The race for the Tallahassee Commission Seat three is officially headed to a recount and is even closer than initially reported.
The unofficial results now show the margin between second and third place has narrowed from 24 votes to just 14.
The canvassing board spent Thursday reviewing ballots that couldn’t be processed and counted on election day. They sorted and counted provisional and mail-in ballots and submitted their unofficial count to the state today.
That count says Tom Derzypolski is ahead of Talethia Edwards by just 14 votes; that’s .04%. That margin automatically triggers a recount.
Both Derzypolski and Edwards were at the canvassing board meetings, watching the process play out. Derzypolski says he is trusting the process.
“It was great to see democracy happen clean, efficiently, and transparently. As a candidate, it’s nerve-wracking; I think everybody’s anxious to get to the final number, but I have a great deal of confidence wherever they land.”
Edwards, on the other hand, said she was feeling a mix of emotions but remains hopeful.
“You run a race and your adrenaline is high. You get to election night and you are expecting triumph or defeat, not a lull, and this is the lull. My hope is that the voters have chosen that it’s me that goes on to the runoff. We’ve come this close. This shows how important every vote actually is in this election,” Edwards said.
More Tallahassee news:
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley says workers are pre-sorting ballots to get ready.
“It’s a very close margin, especially in the percentage-wise. It will very likely go to a manual recount, but we won’t know that until our second unofficial results, which we report Sunday. And so, that’s where we’re working towards that goal,” Earley said.
The machine recount begins Saturday morning and the second unofficial results are being announced Sunday afternoon. If the race is still within a quarter of a percentage point, a manual recount could follow Monday morning.
This is all to determine who advances to face PJ Perez in the general election.
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