Roger Keeney was elected to Plainwell City Council yesterday after a hand recount broke an election-night tie with challenger Stephen Bennett.
Both had 608 votes for the general election Nov. 6. Bennett drew lots, per city charter, and was named the winner, unseating longtime incumbent Keeney.
Keeney requested the recount, conducted throughout Wednesday, Dec. 5, by the Allegan County Board of Canvassers. The four-member board of two Republicans and two Democrats counted 609 votes for Keeney and 607 for Bennett.
Mayor Rick Brooks’ total of 800 votes remained the same. Incumbent Brad Keeler lost one vote, going from 769 on election night to 768.
Allegan County clerk-register Bob Genetski said there were no instances of an unclear vote.
“No, there were no arrows pointing to names on the ballot or ‘hanging chads’,” Genetski said, the latter a reference to the 2000 election of George W. Bush when hole-punched paper ballots in Florida caused headaches for tallying the results. “This seemed pretty clear cut.”
He said no other recounts could be requested. The canvassers had certified the recount results and notified the state.
Bennett was sworn into office at the council’s Nov. 26 meeting and voted on several items, including the annual election of the mayor and mayor pro-tem.
City clerk Brian Kelley said he was awaiting confirmation from the city attorney to determine how to handle the election switch.
“I believe we will simply swear in Mr. Keeney at our (Dec. 10) meeting and he’ll have to abstain from approving the minutes because he wasn’t on the council for the last meeting, technically,” Kelley said. “It doesn’t sound like it will turn out to be as formal as retiring the current council and swearing all of them back in.”
Keeney will also be asked for his consent on the mayoral election, which saw Brooks re-elected as mayor.
The Allegan County News and Union Enterprise are reaching out to Keeney to hear his reaction to the news.
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