SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Close city council races in Richmond and Antioch have required a recount of the votes, which should be decided soon.
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County officials are recounting thousands of ballots by hand.
"The first thing they're doing is sorting every stack from a precinct into each candidate's votes," said Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder- Registrar and Elections Chief Debbie Cooper.
"Then one for over votes and one for no votes," she said. "Then they're going through and two people are looking at every vote and agreeing on how it should be accepted or adjudicated."
In the city of Richmond, Cesar Zepeda won the District 2 city council race when it resulted in a tie and the city clerk drew his name from a bag.
But his opponent Andrew Butt called for a recount along with Antioch's Joy Motts, who lost to Tamisha Torres-Walker last week by three votes.
"If they think every vote has to be counted again, then I'm all for it," said Zepeda.
Torres-Walker on the other hand worries about the message that the recount sends.
"That even if they do get out to vote, their vote could still not mean anything," she said. "And that's my number one concern about processes like this."
But for Motts, who called for the recount in Antioch, it’s as simple as this is the law.
"Pretty much everybody I talk to agree that in an election this close, you need to do a recount," she said.
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