After recount, 11-vote City Council margin confirmed
His opponent lost by 11 votes.
Republican Ciro Adams will take an at-large seat in the Wilmington City Council after his win was confirmed by a recount.
Adams, one of three Republican general election candidates for city-wide positions, beat Benjamin Cohen by 11 votes, which was 0.01 percent of total votes on Election Day, Department of Elections data show.
Election officials reviewed absentee ballots by hand on Tuesday after Cohen requested a recount. Cohen, Adams and their legal associates checked the ballots themselves to confirm. The process to check 44 election districts took about four hours.
All three Republican at-large candidates gained one vote at the recount after officials noticed a ballot's bubbles were not filled in entirely and failed to scan properly, said State Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove. Ultimately, it was inconsequential.
Cohen shook hands with Adams to concede after the results were confirmed.
"It was a very close race," Cohen said. "This is democracy in action... I stand with the process."
Cohen got 5,007 machine votes, more than the 4,984 for Adams, the department reported. But Cohen's 267 absentee votes were outnumbered by Adams' 301 absentee votes, according to Election Day numbers.
The recount was the only one conducted in Delaware, Manlove said. They don't happen often -- no more than once an election year, she said.
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Candidate with 11-vote loss requests recount
Cohen and Adams ran against fellow Republican Robert Keesler, three Democrats and one Independent candidate for four at-large seats.
In the Democrat-heavy city, the three Democratic candidates – Loretta Walsh, Samuel L. Guy and Rysheema Dixon – were the top at-large vote-getters. Council veteran Walsh received 20,876 votes, returning member Guy received 18,854 and newcomer Dixon received 18,131 votes.
One of the four at-large seats must go to a minority party candidate. The seat will be vacated this year by Republican Michael A. Brown Sr., who is retiring from the council after three terms.
The members of the incoming 107th session of council met on Saturday for an orientation event. Adams and Cohen both attended the full-day retreat, paid for with a part of a $30,000 council organizational fund.
Adams, who had run and lost an at-large seat in 2012, said he was pleased with the recount.
"Ben Cohen was a great adversary," he said. "I hope he stays involved."
Contact Christina Jedra at cjedra@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2837 or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.