Recount begins today for Milton City Council: Ward 2, Seat 1

An official recount has been declared for the first seat in Milton's City Council Ward 2 and was set to begin at 9 a.m. Friday.

The race between Marilynn Farrow and former Milton Mayor Wesley Meiss could be determined Friday after Farrow narrowly beat Weiss during Tuesday's election by one vote — 1,408 to 1,407.

The machine recount, which is open to the public, will "commence immediately following the Logic and Accuracy Test," stated a Santa Rosa Supervisor of Elections public notice.

Under Florida law, a machine recount must be ordered if the first set of unofficial returns indicates a candidate was defeated or eliminated by ½ of 1%, 0.05%, or less of the total votes cast for an office. Farrow beat Meiss by 0.0007%.

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If both candidates are still within 0.025% of each other at the end of the machine recount, a mandatory manual recount will commence "immediately following the completion of the machine recount."

Farrow told the News Journal on Tuesday night that she is "still hopeful" about the race even though it's "very close."

"We'll see what happens," she said.

While Meiss did not respond to the News Journal for comment, he took to Facebook congratulating Farrow for her unofficial win, saying she'll "do a fine job" as a city council member.

"Thanks to everyone who supported and voted for me," Meiss wrote on Facebook. "We were one vote short last night. Congrats to Mrs. Farrow! Barring some technical glitch revealed during the mandatory recount, which is highly unlikely, she'll do a fine job. As for me, I think I'll take a step back for a while......."

If anyone would like to attend the recount or Logic and Accuracy Test, it is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Santa Rosa Supervisor of Elections Office in Milton.

Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Milton City Council recount begins Friday of Farrow Meiss for seat 1