Dec 7, 2007 12:20 am US/Pacific
Vallejo Mayoral Election Overturned After Recount
VALLEJO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Gary Cloutier (left) was sworn in as mayor Tuesday. Davis was named the victor Thursday.
CBS
For a while there, it appeared that the city of Vallejo had elected its first openly gay mayor. After a vote recount announced Thursday, it turns out the city actually has its first black mayor.
Assistant Solano County Registrar of Voters Lindsey McWilliams told CBS 5 that former Solano County supervisor Osby Davis emerged victorious in the hand recount of nearly 20,000 ballots, pulling ahead of Councilman Gary Cloutier by just three votes.
The 62-year old Davis garnered 5,718 votes to Cloutier's 5,715, according to the recount results.
Cloutier had been sworn-in as mayor on Tuesday after the initial results of the Nov. 6 election showed him to be the winner by five votes. Now, elections officials said Davis will have to be sworn-in as mayor instead.
Three recount boards each comprised of four people spent three days counting and finished on Wednesday, McWilliams said. The recount cost about $9,670 and the county was to pick up the tab following Davis' win.
Cloutier was prohibited from running for a third term and is now off the Vallejo City Council. He had come under scrutiny around election time after he was arrested behind the wheel of a Cadillac on suspicion of public intoxication outside a Palm Springs bar.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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