ORLANDO, Fla. – The Volusia County Supervisor of Elections, Lisa Lewis, recounted votes on Friday for State House District 29 and Ponce Inlet Town Council seat 4.
The preliminary results for District 29 showed Rep. Webster Barnaby received 7,454 or 50.09% votes and Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff received 7,428 or 49.91% votes. Both candidates were there for the recount process on Friday but did not want to comment on camera.
District 29 represents most of Volusia County, including DeLand, Deltona, Lake Helen and Osteen. Fetterhoff used to represent a district that stretched from Daytona Beach and South Daytona west to DeLand and Orange City. Barnaby’s district, meanwhile, stretched from Oak Hill south of New Smyrna Beach to Deltona, Orange City and DeBary.
A machine recount occurs when the margin is less than or equal to 0.5% total votes for office. If the machine recount returns a margin of defeat less than or equal to 0.25% of total votes, a manual recount of over/under votes occurs.
If the machine recount indicates a manual recount is needed, that will begin promptly.
The winner will face Democrat Rick Karl in the November general election.
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Votes
%
Webster Barnaby(R)
Elizabeth Fetterhoff(R)
(0 / 40)
Lewis explained how her workers were handling the recount.
“What they are doing is they are running through every ballot that pertains to these two races and counting tabulating them and what it does is it kicks out any over vote or under votes in those two races and our third machine is going to take those over under votes and separate them by the two races,” Lewis said.
In the Ponce Inlet Town Council seat 4 race, results showed David Israel received 813 votes or 49.82% and Joe Villanella received 819 votes or 50.18%.
“They’re close races and especially in a municipal race every vote does count. Six votes! We have quite a few over the years that are separated by ten votes and that’s all that decides it,” Lewis said.
Lewis explained once they get a total recount of votes for the State House race, it will be sent to Tallahassee where the results will get finalized.
“It takes time because you want to make sure those ballots, we know where they are, that they pertain to this and that after they run through, they are sealed back up in case we need them again,” she said.
Votes
%
David Israel
Joe Villanella
(0 / 1)
[RELATED ELECTION STORIES: Trying to decide what Florida candidate to vote for? These guides may help | VOTER GUIDE: What you need to know for the 2022 Florida Primary]
The new District 29, however, encompasses much of central Volusia County. It includes DeLand, Deltona, Lake Helen and Osteen. The rest of Volusia County is in house Districts 27, 28 and 30.
To find out if you are in this district, click HERE.
You can look at the redrawn districts HERE.
Webster Barnaby
Webster Barnaby is a Deltona resident, business owner and former Deltona city commissioner who was first elected to the Florida House in 2018.
Barnaby said he supports better pay for teachers and classrooms, cutting taxes for families and small businesses, improving the state’s unemployment system and protecting the state’s natural resources.
He supported the 15-week abortion ban in the Florida House. He also supported a law that charges people who deal in methamphetamine with first-degree murder if someone dies from their drugs, and also raises the mandatory minimum prison sentence for trafficking in fentanyl.
You can see the bills he sponsored on the Florida House website.
Elizabeth Fetterhoff
Elizabeth Fetterhoff is a DeLand resident, retired U.S. Army National Guard specialist and political operative who was first elected to the Florida House in 2018.
Fetterhoff believes in expanding gun rights, is anti-abortion, and for school choice. In the House, she was a sponsor of the Parental Rights in Education law, known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the 15-week abortion ban, establishing term limits for school board members, and several bills supporting veterans and first responders. She also said when Disney spoke up against the Don’t Say Gay law, she returned their campaign donations.
You can see the bills she sponsored on the Florida House website.
News 6 has attached the Order Recount document, which can be read below.
Machine Recount Order - STR ENG 29 (003) by Anthony Talcott on Scribd