After two recounts, Gina Driscoll held off Robert Blackmon by two votes to face Justin Bean in the general election for the District 6 seat on the St. Petersburg City Council.

ST. PETERSBURG – By the time officials results of Tuesday’s primary election were released, Mayor Rick Kriseman had extended his narrow lead over former Mayor Rick Baker by one vote, for a 70-vote margin.

The results of St. Petersburg’s primary election were made official Friday (Sept. 1) at a meeting of the Elections Canvassing Board. Board members also counted provisional ballots – those that were not counted Tuesday because some question had been raised about the vote.

After provisional ballots were counted, Kriseman had picked up three votes and Baker had picked up two. Three other candidates – Jesse Nevel, Anthony Cates and Paul Congemi – each picked up one more vote. Theresa Lassiter gained no new votes. That left the final tally at 27,325 for Kriseman; 27,255, Baker; 945, Nevel; 408, Lassiter; 388, Cates; and 188, Congemi.

The canvassing board also certified results from the race for the District 6 seat for the St. Petersburg City Council. Not only did the board count provisional ballots, members also conducted both a machine and manual recount of the race. Florida law requires a recount when the margin separating two candidates is 0.05 or less. After the two recounts, Justin Bean remained in the lead with 1,442 votes, or 21.12 percent. Gina Driscoll, who had edged out Robert Blackmon with four votes in the unofficial count, remained in second place. But her already razor thin lead shrank to two votes. Driscoll finished with 1,216 votes or 17.81 percent to Blackmon’s 1,214 votes, or 17.78 percent.

Like Kriseman and Baker, Bean and Driscoll will move on to the Nov. 7 general election.

For information about election results, go to votepinellas.com.

St. Petersburg Elections | Rick Kriseman | Rick Baker | Justin Bean | Gina Driscoll | Politics | Tampabay News | Local News

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