Osceola County election officials recounted votes this weekend in two races, with the winners remaining as they were in last Tuesday’s primary, though one candidate watched his margin of victory shrink to a single vote.
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Alex Rodriguez prevailed over Jim Moore by just three votes last week for the last spot in a November runoff for St. Cloud City Council Seat 5. The margin, about .03%, fell within the state’s threshold for a recount by hand.
The recount on Saturday morning put Rodriguez ahead by just a single vote, but that was enough to put him in the November runoff against Kirk Zilke, the Osceola County Supervisors of Elections said.
Rodriguez said he watched the recount live on Saturday, calling it “nerve racking.”
“This is why I tell people every vote truly matters,” he said.
He called his campaign “unconventional,” as he raised less than $1,000 and spent only about $350 — while Zilke, who he’ll face this fall, spent more than $15,000. But heading into a runoff election, Rodriguez said he plans to buy signs and launch a website to build on the door-knocking that propelled his primary campaign.
Last Tuesday, Zilke won just over 40% of the vote, while Rodriguez and Moore each had under 30% in the three-way race.
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In the race for Osceola County School Board District 3, Alyssa Noel defeated Natalie Guzman by 29 votes, or .4%. When an election is within .5%, Florida law requires a recount by machine
Noel remained the winner after the elections office conducted that recount on Saturday, with the number of votes separating her and Guzman staying the same. Noel will take a seat on the school board later this year.
Noel is the chair of the Bellalago Academy School Advisory Council and sits on the Osceola County School District’s School Safety Committee.
In the St. Cloud race, both men cite some of the same priorities, including reducing traffic congestion in the city.
But Zilke, who previously served as deputy chief of the city’s police department, has said he opposes the proposed constitutional amendment to slash property taxes, arguing that it would imperil funding for public services. And Rodriguez, an HOA president in St. Cloud, has said he supports it because “families have experienced rising costs” and the cuts would provide relief.
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