Palm Beach County’s runoff elections went smoothly Tuesday, helping decide races that were too close to call earlier this month.
Overall, the elections should all be final and certified by about 6 p.m. Thursday, Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link said. “The election was very successful,” she said. “We’re glad that there wasn’t a race that was so close we needed a recount.”
As of Wednesday afternoon in the Boynton Beach City Commission race, Thomas Turkin had received 960 votes, or 52.86%, to Marit Hedeen’s 47.14%, amounting to 856 out of 1,816 total ballots cast for Boynton’s race.
As of the afternoon, 99 ballots for all the races still needed “curing,” which means a signature needs to be matched to a voter or witness from an absentee or mail-in ballot. Link said an additional 12 provisional ballots will be reviewed by the county’s Canvassing Board Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
By 10 p.m. Tuesday, all precincts had finished reporting their results, but the Supervisor of Elections said Wednesday that just over 100 mail-in, absentee or provisional ballots won’t be fully counted until Thursday evening. Those ballots could sway some of the closer races, one of which is currently separated by a mere 11 votes.
The Jupiter Inlet Colony, with a population of about 400, counted 209 ballots on Tuesday. Marie Rosner was leading with 110 votes to Cynthia B. Keim’s 99.
Other races were even closer, as a matter of percentile, even if the number of votes separating them was higher.
In the city of Riviera Beach, one contested City Council seat had a difference of 68 votes. Shirley Lanier had received 2,062 votes as of Tuesday night, representing 50.84% of the vote, while Marvelous Washington had 1,994 votes, or 49.16%.
