Bob Mata has won the special election for Brooklyn Park's West District Council seat. The results from last week's election showed Mata beat Wynfred Russell by just five votes. A recount held at Brooklyn Park City Hall Tuesday morning showed the same.
The day after the election, Russell requested a recount. Because the difference in votes between him and Mata was less than half of one percent, the city agreed to do it. About a dozen paid election judge staff members conducted the recount, which required them to sort and count each West District vote by hand. Russell and Mata kept close watch as each ballot was tabulated.
In the end, the recount numbers were identical to the results generated last Tuesday night. Mata had 536 votes to Russell's 531.
Both candidates said they had no regrets about the recount.
"We thought we would have been able to pick up some votes, but we are satisfied with the process," said Russell. "It was a very fair and transparent process."
"It came out exactly like I expected," said Mata. "But you never know; so, I mean, I would have done the same thing had I been on the other end of that."
Russell said this race highlights the message that every vote matters.
"We all have to show up and vote, and not only show up and vote in presidential elections," he said. "We have an opportunity here. We have a very good system and we don’t need to take that for granted."
Mata says he is looking forward to moving on.
"My whole premise and everything I want to do is help lower the taxes for people and get our spending in line," says Mata, "and help bring businesses into the city to help get the lion’s share of the taxes to get the burden off the residents."
The recount results will be presented to the city council for certification on August 27th. Mata will be sworn in at the council meeting on Tuesday, September 4th.
Renee Banot
rbanot@twelve.tv
August 21, 2012