From a press release by Tonya P. Anderson, Janice Frey Van Ness is the victor over Anderson after a re-count in Senate District 43. Republican Van Ness won the run-off election by 84 votes over the Democratic Anderson.
The press release states:
Anderson’s campaign asked for the recount because there were complaints that a voting precinct on Panola Road in DeKalb County showed no in-person voting on election, even though citizens said they cast their votes there. Only 87 votes separated the two candidates.
“Our recount request was not about my opponent or myself, this was about ensuring a fair and open process that protects every vote. We should always err on the side of transparency when it comes to counting votes,” Anderson said.
A DeKalb Elections Board staff person described the discrepancy at the Panola Road voting precinct as a “glitch.”
Anderson thanked the voters in SD43 for their support, saying she would continue to fight for Democratic values and representation continues.
“I have served parts of this District for nearly 10 years and will continue serving, even outside of office,” said Anderson.
I don’t know of any state legislative race in Georgia where a recount has changed the winner, certainly not in recent times. Accordingly, there was basically no chance a recount yesterday was going to significantly change the results in Senate District 43—and it didn’t, only reducing Van Ness’s margin from 87 to 84 votes. Perhaps the closest state legislative general election in the last 20 years was in 2000, when in Marietta’s HD 32 Judy Manning defeated Democrat Pat Dooley by a mere 12 votes in the first round of counting. In Round 2, the margin increased to 19 votes.