Greg Clay, who is just three votes behind the second-place vote-getter in Atlanta’s District 3 council race, will seek a recount in the race to replace the late City Councilman Ivory Lee Young Jr.
The special election on Tuesday, which had nine candidates, will go to a runoff between the top two vote-getters. Clay finished with 293 votes, while second-place finisher Antonio Brown garnered 296. First-place finisher Byron Amos had 359 votes.
Because Clay was within 1 percent of Brown’s total, he can request a recount. After the county elections board certified the results on Friday, Clay confirmed that he plans to file the request Monday, before the noon Tuesday deadline.
Richard Barron, Fulton County’s director of registration and elections, said he wants to complete the recount quickly. A drawn-out process delays sending ballots by mail, he said. The runoff is scheduled for April 16, with early voting taking place April 8-12.
Clay, the founder of the Atlanta Speaks Initiative, said he was hopeful for the possibility of making the runoff.
“I wish we would’ve had three or four more come out on election day,” he said.
Brown, in second place, is a businessman, while Amos is a former member of Atlanta’s school board.
The election is to fill the remainder of Young’s term, which expires in 2021. Young died in November.
The district, which sits next to Mercedes Benz-Stadium in downtown Atlanta, is undergoing rapid redevelopment — including the westside expansion of the Atlanta Beltline. But it also includes two of the city’s poorest communities, English Avenue and Vine City.
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