The recount is over, and Bonnie McClung is the victor

Mike Ferreira has ended his recount of the ballots in the Half Moon Bay City Council election. "It was a very close election," he said, but "Bonnie and I agreed that the stress and turmoil of carrying the process into the next steps would not do the community any good." Today’s announcement was something of an anticlimax after McClung’s come-from-behind victory and the early results in the recount.

After recounting all the ballots resulted in a seven-vote gain for Ferreira, there was an uncertified eight-vote gap and contested ballots with another eight votes at stake. Ferreira’s decision precludes any official assessment of the challenged ballots and means that Ferreira will not be moving to the next step of the process which would follow a recount—an election contest in the courts involving other issues.

Ferreira expressed admiration for the way county elections officer Warren Slocum and his staff conducted themselves during the recount and said that Bonnie McClung had set a good example for everyone by her civility during a very stressful recount process.