Originally slated to be Gainesville’s opportunity for a political intermission, the next few days will instead play a pivotal role in deciding who will be Gainesville’s next mayor.
Today at 5 p.m., the City of Gainesville Canvassing Board will reconvene in order to review provisional ballots cast in Tuesday’s mayoral election between City Commissioner Craig Lowe and Don Marsh. As of Tuesday night, Lowe holds a 35-vote lead over Marsh.
At stake are 21 provisional ballots, which are ballots cast by people whose eligibility to vote are uncertain.
The Canvassing Board will review the ballots to make sure that they can be used in the election data, said Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter.
Even if all 21 provisional votes are validated and given to Lowe, it would only give him 50.2 percent of the vote, which, compared to Marsh’s 49.8 percent, is less than the half-percentage-point margin required by law to bypass a recount.
Without a clear majority, a mandatory recount would need to take place, which would likely occur Friday when the Canvassing Board meets at the Supervisor of Elections Operations Center.
A manual recount will be conducted if the margin between the two candidates is a fourth of a percentage point or less, while a machine recount will be conducted if it is between a fourth of a percentage point and half of a percentage point.
According to Eric Conrad, Lowe’s campaign spokesman, Lowe will be in attendance for Thursday’s canvassing meeting. It could not be determined whether Marsh would be present at the meeting as well.
Should there be any irregularities with the recount process, Conrad said the campaign would not hesitate to pursue legal action but feels confident that the current outcome will stand.
