SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Fulton County election officials are set to recount all of the votes cast during Tuesday's election. The countywide recount impacts about 36 different races, including the City of South Fulton where two candidates are separated by just one vote.
“This is a prime example that every vote counts,” said City of South Fulton District 5 Council Candidate Keosha Bell, who said she didn’t expect her race to be so tight.
“Both my opponent and I, Mr. Bennett, were both at 31% - its only one vote. He received 404 and I received 403 votes. And then we have our incumbent who is actually at 38%, so it’s a very, very tight race,” added Bell.
With the race so close, every vote counts. In fact, candidate Kalvin Bennett said that on Election Day he was speaking to voters and after describing his stance on gun control, a resident committed to voting for him.
“He went in and came back out and said he voted for me on that one issue, and that right there is the one vote that possibly put me ahead," Bennett said.
University of Georgia Political Science Professor Charles Bullock said it’s rare to have results that close and that the District 5 race already qualified for a recount because results have a half of a percent point difference. However, he is shocked that all Fulton County races are being reviewed.
“It’s surprising that they are going to recount the contests which are not within this half-percentage point margin -- and maybe it’s because they're relatively few votes. You can do this pretty easily as long as going through and re-inspecting these, OK go ahead and check off all of them,” said Bullock.
Bullock said the countywide recount could also be good practice for election officials as they get ready for 2024 presidential race. But, for the District 5 candidates, the recount comes with high stakes because none of them met the 50 percent plus one vote threshold to win the election.
This means there will be a runoff -- and usually only the top two candidates can participate in that process. After the recount, one of these two would head to a runoff against incumbent council member Corey Reeves, who received 491 votes.
“It’s shows the importance of getting every vote out, I mean every vote. With just one vote separating myself and Keosha Bell you know I’m sweating, I’m sweating to see what’s decided,” added Bennett.
11Alive reached out to the District 5 incumbent Corey Reeves about the race and did not hear back.