Nancy Bostock is Pinellas County’s newest school board member.
The former board member emerged victorious in the District 6 race Friday, after the county election canvassing board completed a daylong recount of the nearly 48,000 ballots cast in this week’s primary.
She won by seven votes, and will replace Stephanie Meyer, who did not seek reelection after one term in office.
“I’m very thankful for the confidence the voters have placed in me,” Bostock said after the votes were certified, just before 5 p.m. “I also thank Ms. Lord for running a very positive race.”
She praised the elections office for running a “phenomenal” recount, as did Lord, who said she had “100% confidence” in the result.
“I congratulate Nancy on her victory,” Lord said.
Bostock walked into the supervisor’s office with a seven-vote lead, after the canvassing board’s Thursday evening review of mail and provisional ballots with questioned signatures. That process added 25 votes to the tally; it padded Bostock’s slim advantage, which had been two after the first unofficial count.
State law requires a recount for any election in which the top two vote getters are separated by 0.5% or less of the total ballots cast. If a machine vote finds the spread is 0.25% or less, a manual recount comes next.
That’s what happened Friday as the canvassing board and the candidates gathered in the supervisor of elections office in Largo.
The candidates and their supporters, who had come to help observe the count, arrived just before 9 a.m. expecting a relatively short event. Elections officials quickly dashed that hope, saying it would likely last well into the afternoon.
Staff would be testing the eight vote tabulation machines to ensure their accuracy for the work ahead. Then they’d be running the 47,981 ballots through in batches.
Election supervisor Julie Marcus predicted that work alone would take five hours, with any hand recount that followed lasting another two hours.
“We’d rather be right than reasonably timely,” Marcus told the people gathered to watch.
She ultimately was about 90 minutes over on the first part and about 15 minutes under on the second.
As the machines started running, Bostock joked that never had seven votes — the margin of her lead at the start of the day — seemed so large.
“I’m nervous,” she said. “I’m confident in the process. We have a great supervisor’s office. The good news is, there will be no hanging chads today.”
She referred to Florida’s 2000 presidential recount that the U.S. Supreme Court eventually halted.
With little to do, many in the crowd chatted for a bit before leaving for lunch while the machines buzzed on. When all was said and done, the seven-vote margin in Bostock’s favor remained.
Bostock and Lord sat together for the update, chatting amicably and while awaiting the next step. Though opponents in the race, they both commented that the competition was nothing but friendly.
“We’re always nice to each other,” Lord said. “We’re fine,” Bostock added.
At 2 p.m., the recount moved from the glass encased machine stations to a separate room where six groups of reviewers looked over 5,814 overvotes, undervotes and any other questionable ballots. The vast majority were undervotes, ballots on which the machines found no chosen candidate.
The candidates and their observers stood nearby, able to challenge any determination of who the vote went for, with the canvassing board serving as final arbiter.
After going over the rules, the board began the hand count.
It largely was a hushed event, with the teams looking at each remaining ballot, sorting them into boxes marked overvote, undervote, undetermined and challenged.
Only a handful made it to the board. And most of those were found to be votes for no one.
Of the ballots reported to the panel, two were awarded to Bostock and two to Lord.
Bostock, 57, previously served on the school board from 1998 to 2008, leaving to join the county commission for a term. She lost her reelection bid in 2012, in part because of her support for removing fluoride from the county water supply.
She runs her family’s chemical production laboratory, and said she decided to seek a return to the board after Hurricane Helene showed her the importance of public service.
During their campaign, the candidates focused on their plans and ideas, and did not resort to mudslinging. They agreed on several of the issues the district faces moving ahead.
Bostock presented herself as the leader with experience in government operations. She came with endorsements of several current and former county leaders, mostly Republicans.
Lord touted herself as a fresh voice with new ideas. She found support of the more Democratic-leaning current and former board members.
The board will swear in its newly elected members in November.
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