In the end, there was no confusion. No name calling, no questionable motives. Instead there was order. Perfect order, and hugs. A hand count predicted to last six hours Saturday lasted exactly six hours, the same hand count that the county’s top election official guaranteed would match a second tally of votes for Wellington’s messy March 13 council election. The winners: Bob Margolis for mayor, John Greene for seat 1 and Matt Willhite for seat 4. It was a relief for everyone involved, including voters. “Now there’s no dispute,” said Wellington resident Frank Ventriglio. Ventriglio and his wife came to witness the hand count at Palm Beach County’s elections service center in Riviera Beach, on his 57th birthday, no less. “We wanted to see the democratic process at its best,” Theresa Ventriglio said.
… For nearly a week after election night Shauna Hostetler celebrated her victory in seat 1. Al Paglia, who a decade ago lost a council bid by just four votes, was reveling in his seat 4 win. Then a routine audit showed a big problem, one that appears to be unprecedented in recent Florida history: vote tallies were assigned to the wrong candidates. That was trouble enough, but it wasn’t clear if the original election results had actually been certified, which is what state law calls for before an audit. Turns out they hadn’t, that was the job of Wellington’s canvassing board. But by the time that came to light, the audit had revealed a mix-up that couldn’t be ignored.
… It still isn’t clear what caused the goof in results on the election night. Wellington was the only municipality among 16 holding elections that had a problem. At first, Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher blamed software. The next day Dominion Voting Systems, which provides the county’s voting machines, said their systems appeared to have had a synchronization error. But on Friday the Denver company took an about-face saying the software was fine.
Full Article: It’s official: Wellington finally has its winners.