A runoff election this November will now decide who becomes Orange County’s next District 1 Commissioner, after the tight race seemed earlier this week to be heading for a machine recount.
Before the county’s canvassing board finished reviewing all provisional and vote-by-mail ballots, incumbent District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson held a thin lead, with just five more votes than challenger Austin Arthur.
But Thursday’s review narrowed Wilson’s lead even further: to just two votes over Arthur, placing the race outside Florida’s statutory requirement for a recount, according to Orange County’s Supervisor of Elections Office.
Since neither of the top two candidates for District 1 received a majority of votes, a runoff election this November will now decide the final outcome.
First unofficial results: Orange County District 1
Nicole Wilson: 14,062 (includes 10 votes gained during canvassing board’s review)
Austin Arthur: 14,060 (includes 13 votes gained during canvassing board’s review)
Qualified write-in candidate, Stephen M. Davis: 28
