By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
DELAND, Fla. -- District 29 State Rep. candidate Webster Barnaby said he's pleased with the final GOP primary results and looking forward to campaigning in the general election for the newly created seat in the Florida Legislature.
"I was always confident that the vote recount would come out in my favor," Burnaby told Headline Surfer in an email. "My team and I worked extremely hard visiting neighborhoods in District 29 daily for the past two months.
Barnaby continued, "I am looking forward to continuing our hard work and earning all the votes we will need for more success on November 8th in the General Election."
A mandatory recount shows Webster Barnaby prevailed over GOP rival Elizabeth Fetterhoff by 30 votes from Tuesday's primary for the newly-created District 29 State rep. seat and he now moves forward to face Democrat Rick Karl in the Nov. 8 general election.
A mandatory recount shows Webster Barnaby prevailed over GOP rival Elizabeth Fetterhoff by 30 votes from Tuesday's primary for the newly-created District 29 State rep. seat and he now moves forward to face Democrat Rick Karl in the Nov. 8 general election.
The two Republicans who won two years ago in separate districts were forced to go head-to-head in Tuesday's primary due to re-districting with 14,882 votes counted. Unofficial vote counts showed Barnaby received 7,454 votes or 50.09 percent of the total, and Fetterhoff garnered 7,428 votes or 49.91 percent of the total votes cast by Republican voters.
"Those results mandated a recount since Mr. Barnaby and Ms. Fetterhoff were a .18 percent difference which caused the recount process," Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis said.
Florida law requires a recount when the difference between candidates is less than one-half of 1 percent.
After re-tabulating over 15,000 ballots, separating the overvotes and undervotes, and working a 16-hour day by most Supervisor of Elections staff members in completing a manual recount, the results showed Barnaby received 7,450 votes (50.11 percent) and Elizabeth Fetterhoff received 7,420 votes (49.89 percent), a difference of 30 votes,
The mandatory recount last Friday by the three-member Volusia County Canvassing Board -- consisting of Lewis, former County Chair Frank Bruno, and County Judge David Foxman, who serves as its chair -- showed Barnaby picked up an additional four votes and was declared the official winner of the GOP primary race.
For her part, Fetterhoff released a statement that read: "Thank you. We cannot express our gratitude enough for the encouragement and support that we received from our family, friends, volunteers, and community leaders during this campaign, and I know we all worked hard to win this fight.
Fetterhoff continued, "While this campaign for House District 29 was not as successful as we hoped, I can promise you that I will continue to advocate and work hard to improve the quality of life we enjoy here in Volusia County in whatever capacity God has in store for me next. The opportunity to serve our community in House District 26 for the last four years has been a humbling experience and I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish.
She added, "My amazing staff, Valerie Clarke and Francesca Audino, have done a fantastic job serving the constituents of Volusia as well and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and compassion. My staff and I will continue to serve this office until November, so if there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Thank you and God bless."
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008 along the I-4 tourism corridor in greater Daytona Beach to Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed 115 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high-profile cases such as the George Zimmerman murder trial, Frederick has appeared on national crime shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. AWJ: