Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis: Primary Recount Confirms Bill Hall New Mayor of South Daytona

Photos for Headline Surfer / William 'Bill' Hall, former South Daytona police chief, shown at left, defeated incumbent George Locke, III, by a mere five votes in the Volusia County Primary Elections, results of  a manual recount confirmed Friday in DeLand at the Historic Volusia County Courthouse.
 
By HENRY FREDERICK
Headline Surfer

SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. -- Demonstrating once again that every vote counts, a manual recount Friday showed William "Bill" Hall the winner of the primary for mayor of South Daytona over incumbent George Locke, III.

The difference in votes? Five. Yes, five votes, as in the four fingers and thumb count on one's hand. That's how close the margin of victory was for Hall, who retired as police chief a few years ago.

The final results from the manual recount performed by the Volusia County Canvassing Board on Friday resulted in 1,306 votes cast for Hall and 1,301 votes cast for Locke.

"When all was said and done the results were the same," Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis told Headline Surfer.   

Hall, 58, retired as South Daytona's police chief in 2013, having served in law enforcement for 35 years, dating back to when he was 18 and just out of high school.

Locke said he called Hall after Tuesday's primary because "I knew the results of the recount likely wouldn't change," Locke said. Indeed, unofficial primary votes showed Hall had won by the slimmest of margins, 1,306 votes or 50.1 percent to 1,301 or 49.9 percent.

Locke said he called Hall after Tuesday's primary because "I knew the results of the recount likely wouldn't change," Locke said. Indeed, unofficial primary votes showed Hall had won by the slimmest of margins, 1,306 votes or 50.1 percent to 1,301 or 49.9 percent.

A recount is done when voting totals show a candidate has won by less than one half of one percent.

Locke had been mayor since 2010, when he first won in a special election and then re-elected in 2012. Prior to that, he had been a city commissioner for two decades.

"I knew it was time for new blood and Bill Hall worked hard for this so I wasn't really disappointed," said Locke, 70.

Hall, accompanied by his attorney, Steven deLaroche, to witness the recount, along with Locke, said, he knew the incumbent had been on the dais a long time and had set his own sights on coming back to public service.

"Once in a while, someone's got to throw a hat in the ring to preserve democracy," Hall said afterwards. 

The two were cordial to each other, Lewis said. 

The 90-minute recount Friday morning was conducted by Lewis and four of her staffers staffers under the supervision of the Volusia County Canvassing Board, which consisted of County Council at-large member Joyce Cusack, Judge Chris Kelley and County Councilman Pat Patterson.

Normally, the canvassing board consists of the supervisor of elections, the county chair and a judge. But because Lewis, herself, was in the primary (she won decisively over three others), and County Chair Jason Davis, was too (he finished second among four candidates to force a Nov. 8 runoff with primary winner Ed Kelley), Cusack took Lewis' place and Patterson filled in for Davis.