SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - After Delaware's primary election Tuesday night, it appears Sussex County has two new council members. Both the District 2 and District 3 races were tight and the winner of each will take the seat as there were no candidates in the Democratic primary.
Department of Elections Sussex County Director Kenneth "Bo" McDowell says the new system for processing votes doesn't update as quickly and that the department received a massive amount of absentee and mail-in ballots for this election.
Based on the unofficial results, Mark Schaeffer wins over incumbent I.G. Burton by 44 votes. McDowell says automatic recounts only happen at 0.5 percent, which would've been 32 votes for the District 3 race. Burton says a recount would be nice, but he understands why this race doesn't qualify.
"If it's under a certain percentage or less than 1,000, they automatically do it," Burton says. "I don't qualify for the percentage, but I do qualify for under 1,000 and it yields to the lesser of the two."
McDowell says he reached out to the offices of the Attorney General and the Elections Commissioner to see what the options would be
"Usually if you suspected foul play or something like that, or if you thought the machines weren't working, or something of that nature, it would take something kind of egregious if you were going to do a recount that wasn't automatic," McDowell says.Â
After three candidates faced off for the District 2 seat, Cynthia Green has a wide enough margin to claim it with 39.02%. As for the two who were vying for District 3, Mark Schaeffer has 50.35% of votes.  "I wish him the best and thank him for his service," Schaeffer says. "My opponent conceded last night. I look forward to serving the people of the third district." "It was a tough race," Burton says. "It shows that you just got to come out and vote." Both candidates expressed disappointment in the new ballot processing.  "There was a report that I had won and it was 100% in," Burton says. "Well it was, that was correct, it was 100% in of the mail-in or the absentee, but it wasn't the total count." When results first came in Tuesday night, the
state's primary election websiteshowed all 436 precincts reporting, but at that time 0 machine votes had been counted in some races, like District 3. The precinct number was then taken down and votes continued to trickle in for a few more hours. "The old system was based off of a main frame, which we actually had control of in-house," McDowell says. "This one had been outsourced to a company that built a specific program, so there's enhanced features that are on this system and it's a nicer looking platform, but it's not updated as quickly." McDowell says about 35% of voters eligible for the primary election in Sussex County cast a ballot. He says the results will be certified by the state on Friday. Â
