The Monroe County Democratic Party is considering requesting a recount for the District 2 city council race, but will wait until the two provisional ballots are counted next week to decide.\nNewly re-elected Republican city council member Brad Wisler beat challenger Democrat Jillian Kinzie by just six votes Tuesday.\nMonroe County Democratic Party Chair Lee Jones said it is “quite likely” the party will request a recount on Kinzie’s behalf because of how close the final vote was.\nBoth campaigns agree that it is the absentee ballots that will be called into question. \n“When a lot of absentee and early voting ballots (were) counted by hand, there is a chance for completely unintentional human error,” Jones said.\nHowever, Wisler said because most of the absentee ballots were counted early, they probably will not result in any significant change. He said that in most election recounts, if the vote changes the outcome, it usually increases the margin in favor of the original winner.\n“I don’t expect the outcome to change necessarily,” Kinzie said. “But the reason we’re pursuing it is just to make sure the results are all counted.”\nJones said she hasn’t heard of any ballot-counting issues and said it seems it was a “well-run, honestly-run election.”\nNewly re-elected city council member at-large Tim Mayer said he won his first election in 1982 by only 34 votes.\n“In local elections, close votes are often very common,” Mayer said. “Because they’re in particular neighborhoods and most of the people in those neighborhoods know the candidates.”\nHe said that the Democratic Party has the responsibility of making an “educated guess” as to whether recounting the votes will change the results or not.\nJones said Kinzie will have until Nov. 23 to petition for a recount, while the Monroe County Democratic Party will have until Nov. 29. \nBut Wisler said the election is unlikely to change. \n“If I have to try to look at a crystal ball, I don’t see a strong likelihood that it would go the other way,” Wisler said.\nKinzie said even if a recount validates Wisler’s win, she still sees the election as a personal triumph. She said Republicans historically have held District 2 for more than 20 years.\n“Given that the difference is under one percent, that is generally cause for a recount,” Kinzie said. “Having it this close is really incredible.”\nWisler agreed the race was tight, especially considering the results in favor of the Democrats in all other Bloomington races.\n“Frankly I’m surprised I won at all considering how strong the tide was going the other way,” Wisler said. “I was thrilled.”\nMayer said there would be benefits of having an all-Democratic city council, but he cannot discount the positive effects of having someone from “the other side of the coin” represented in the council.\n“Another voice always has been an advantage in the past,” Mayer said. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be in the future.”\nWisler said normally party ties don’t play a role in city council issues one way or the other.\n“On the local level there are plenty of things we can agree on that are not partisan issues,” Wisler said. “There is not really a liberal or conservative way to fill a pot hole or pick up trash.”
-City & State editor Kasey Hawrysz contributed to this article.
