Atlantic Beach commissioner race heads to recount after two-vote margin

A race for Atlantic Beach City Commission Seat 4 in Duval County is going through a recount after the candidates finished separated by just two votes.

As of Nov. 6, Lisa Herrold had 3,160 votes and Jennifer Lagner had 3,158 votes. The two-vote difference triggered the recount.

The machine recount is taking place at the 1 Imeson Center, the county’s vote processing center on Jacksonville’s Northside, where ballots are processed. Machines are re-scanning thousands of ballots.

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Officials expected to learn the results of the second unofficial recount, known as the machine recount, within the noon hour.

After that, any under-votes, in which the voter left the ballot option blank, or over-votes, in which the voter circled more than one candidate, will be counted. Those results were expected by 7 p.m. There are 875 under-votes.

The process follows a recount procedure required by Florida law.

“Obviously this race is within a quarter. But everything within a half a percent or less, we must do an entire machine recount,” said Jerry Holland, Duval County supervisor of elections.

Florida recounts are a far cry from the 2000 presidential recount, with no hanging chads. The process now relies on electronic machines and paper ballots.

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Gloved election workers processed Atlantic Beach voters’ choices through machines that tallied ballots one by one. The public and the candidates milled around the room waiting for results.

Holland said the purpose of a recount is redundancy, to make sure the count is accurate.

Herrold, who is nonpartisan, said she is anxious but trusts the process.

“I’m feeling just a tad bit anxious actually, but I trust the process and I’m waiting for the process to complete,” Herrold said.

She said her platform focuses on preserving the city’s quality of life and addressing infrastructure, traffic, transparency and green space.

“I want to preserve our quality of life; I want to address infrastructure, traffic,” Herrold said.

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Herrold said she has seen a vote this close before.

“I have seen a vote this close. There’s a vote a number of years ago, over a decade ago, when they had to pull ping-pong balls out of a bag in Neptune Beach,” Herrold said.

Lagner declined to be interviewed in time for this report.

Final results are expected Friday at 5 p.m. If the vote is still tied at that point, the winner will be determined by a game of chance, such as a ping-pong ball draw or a coin flip.

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