VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Recounts in the razor-thin primary races for State House District 29 and Ponce Inlet Town Council seat 4 resulted in no change to either ultimate outcome and the sorting-out of a handful of votes for GOP candidates, Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis announced Friday.
Though both races were reevaluated with a machine recount, Lewis said a manual recount was also completed in the District 29 race. The machine recount was ordered due to the margins in both races being less than or equal to 0.5% of the total votes, and manual recounts are prompted to toss over/under votes when the results of a machine recount show a less-than 0.25% margin of defeat, according to Lewis.
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Preliminary results in the District 29 race indicated Rep. Webster Barnaby received 7,454 votes (50.09%) while Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff received 7,428 (49.91%). Following Friday’s recounts, during which over 15,000 ballots were re-tabulated, Lewis said Barnaby received 7,450 votes (50.11%) and Fetterhoff 7,420 (49.89%), four and eight fewer votes respectively.
“Those results mandated a recount since Mr. Barnaby and Ms. Fetterhoff were at .18% difference,” Lewis said in a statement.
Rep. Barnaby will face Democrat Rick Karl in the November general election. He published a statement on Facebook Saturday morning addressing Volusia County voters, who he said honored him with their support and deserved his representation.
For Ponce Inlet seat 4, results on election night showed David Israel received 813 votes (49.82%) and Joe Villanella received 819 (50.18%); according to Lewis, the tabulations for Israel or Villanella remained identical in the recount.
“Although the process was tedious and time consuming, I am pleased to present the results that could not have been accomplished without dedicated canvassing board members and my staff. I would also like to thank the candidates for their patience while the recount was conducted,” Lewis said in a statement.
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.
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.
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