Marana Town Council election heads to a recount

MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — One half of one percent – that’s what’s sending the race for a Marana Town Council seat to a recount.

Incumbent Mayor Ed Honea, who ran unopposed, was declared the winner of the mayoral election. Patrick Cavanaugh was declared the winner of one of the open council seats, but the winner of the second open council seat can’t be declared yet, because the two candidates are separated by 14 votes.

Incumbent Roxanne Ziegler has 6,893 votes while Melissa Zupi has 6,879 votes.

According to state law, “A recount of the vote is required when the canvass of returns in a primary or general election shows that the margin between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for a particular office, or between the number of votes cast for and against initiated or referred measures or proposals to amend the Constitution of Arizona, is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the number of votes cast for both such candidates or on such measures or proposals.”

Marana Town Clerk David Udall says a petition for an automatic recount will be filed in superior court.

“We have prepared that documentation. We’ll be filing it today,” Udall said. “The court has to expedite that process to make an order, ordering a recount.”

Then the Pima County Elections Division will do the recount once it’s ordered by the court.

“They’ve informed me it should take about two to three days. Once that happens, we’ll get the results, we will file those with the court and then the court declares the results as final,” Udall said.

Udall says recounts were also triggered in the town in 2007 and 2009.

He says it’s not uncommon for there to be a slight difference of the votes in a recount.

“Sometimes there may be what are called ‘hesitation marks’ or other things that kind of cause the tabulating machines to pick up the votes in a certain way,” Udall said. “I don’t think it’s very often that it changes the result of a race.”

The results of the recount will be final. Those who have been elected will take office at the first council meeting after the general election in November.

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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.