Fifth Ward Recount Revisited in 2020: Two Votes Found in One Vote Race

[XLFD]

The rematch of the recounts. 

In 2018 the Fifth Ward race for a two year term was rather close, with challenger Angela Serna beating the council-chosen incumbent Wallace Cain by four votes.  A recount was petitioned for by Wally Cain and the results turned out to be a perfect match of the results in the original election, allowing Serna to assume the title of Fifth Ward Councilor.  

Two years later, it was with little surprise that the two councilors, each that had served their ward as councilor for two years, would end up so close, with Cain defeating Serna by one vote in the unofficial results, 267-266.  Serna was unclear at first as to whether she would ask for a recount, her choice may have been solidified by the actions of the mayor and rest of the city council since in censuring her for using colorful language to express her outrage over the mayor refusing to get an answer for a question she asked in regards to a potential housing project.

The recount was scheduled for today, December 11th, at 9 AM at the city hall community room in the basement level.  At nine sharp the process began with the county board of canvassers unlocking the bin with all of the ballots from the six wards of Ludington.  Two sets of zip tie locks needed to be circumvented before they could reach in and extract the fifth ward ballots.

The first step of the process had all of the ballots being counted without any attempt to count them for either candidate.  In the picture below, you can see both candidates (Cain on the left seated opposite of Serna on the far right) sit and wait through this count.

The ballots were kept in piles of 100 each, each pile having ten piles of ten ballots.  They were set off to the side in order to be eventually went through to count votes for each candidate.  These are seen below on the table

The process of counting ballots was slow and meticulous.  Each ballot was placed in front of a projector so the audience could actually all see the relevant part of the ballot showing either a vote for the candidates or a 'no-vote' where nobody was selected.  The latter was rather common, while the others were about equally mixed.  

The count adjourned for a break with about three hundred ballots left and Serna having a three point lead.  It began again shortly after eleven, with the lead fluctuating between both candidates with micro-surges for each happening in the random ballot counting calculus.  Before having an official count, the two officials seated at the main table sorted the ballots for each candidate in piles of ten each.  

In reviewing the totals, two more votes were found for Wally Cain, giving him a three vote margin of victory over Serna.  This total coincided with the the board of canvassers' tally taken through the process.  Wally Cain is the new Fifth Ward Councilor, again.  There were 165 people who failed to vote in the Fifth Ward.

[AQUAMAN]

Damn shame Serna didn't win this time. Now we just have another weak and crony Cane to walk us thru the next few years, note the name Cane is like a Cane to walk on, not Cain. Shittttttty result!

[Willy]

To bad. The Citizens need Serna. I think the real story here is what I have been saying for years. The elected class has remained basically the same over many years because of the voters. This is a perfect example. 165 people failed to exercise their right to vote. Shame on them.

[XLFD]

Most people just don't pay a lot of attention to what's going on and historically have accepted what they have been spoon fed.  Nothing's better proof than the success I had in 2013 in taking the City to task in Mayor Henderson's last year:  I won (or settled very favorably) three court cases against them involving egregious violations of OMA law, FOIA law, and multiple constitutional violations of my rights.  I exposed their bathroom cameras and how the city's highest officials were lying about their capacity for recording.  

Rather than sparking any outrage against city policy and practices, which had been terrible in the last term of Henderson and beyond, officials and local media concentrated their angst against me.  Which is too bad for them, because if the local media and officials focused on addressing and correcting their shortcomings, I would have likely retired, my job done.  With Angela's loss, the council is only going to go back to where it was, unless new councilors Terzano or May takes up her calling.

[Freedom Seeker]

Well said, X.  Thanks for all you've done and are doing to shed light on our local government activities that would still be in the dark without your efforts.  It will be interesting to see if Terzano and or May are thinkers or followers and unless Cain changes his ways, we know he's a space-filling follower.

[Freedom Seeker]

It's really too bad, but Serena's questions and concern for constituents only made her the ire of the mayor and the council. That Cain picked up two more votes in the recount really shows how important a recount could be in small towns like this. Best to Councilor Serna and hoping her fighting spirit is put to even better use!

[stump]

  Sorry to hear Serna  lost in the recount. It's not only her loss but a real loss for the citizens of Ludington. We finally had a councilor that stood up and asked questions and didn't follow like a sheep.   Possibly not all is lost, she could team up with X LFD, not that they would listen to her anymore that XLFD.

[XLFD]

Serna has indicated she will remain active in the local scene, so I will definitely be nudging her in the ribs when something comes before the council that is in her wheelhouse, corrupt, or otherwise detrimental to the course of Ludington.  I think there will be plenty coming up that will be snuck through the process, and appreciate any type of alliance with someone as dedicated to transparency as Angela Serna, the best councilor around since I've been paying attention.

[AQUAMAN]

One thing we know for sure after this last National election, the fix was in. Makes a person wonder if that was also true of this local election, as the Cane isn't known for anything except sheep behavior from the past that will likely continue into the future. Ludington continues to regress, not progress.