The Dec. 14 recount in the Dec. 5 nonpartisan Atlanta mayoral general runoff election produced the same result as the certified totals did, with Keisha Lance Bottoms nipping Mary Norwood by 832 votes. But Norwood is considering challenging the election results in court after the Dec. 14 recount conducted by DeKalb and Fulton counties did not include officials hand-counting the absentee and provisional ballots. The two counties certified the results Dec. 11, and with it, Bottoms’ margin of victory increased from 759 votes to 832. However, the percentages stayed the same, with Bottoms getting 50.4 percent and Norwood 49.6 percent, meaning Norwood was still within a percentage point and eligible for a recount, which she had already requested.
“The totals (following the recount) did not change because it was a re-canvass, not a full recount,” Norwood said. “Re-canvass means you take the cards and run them back through. … We had asked for a review of all provisional ballots and all mail-in absentee ballots. We did not have access to the provisional (ballots) or the mail-in ballots.”
Norwood lost in the 2009 Atlanta mayoral runoff election to Kasim Reed in similar fashion. She lost by 714 votes before picking up one vote in a recount. Regarding this year’s runoff, she said the law departments of both counties for some reason decided not to allow her to get a hand count of the provisional and absentee ballots.