WHITNEY, Texas (KXXV) — Two new city council members were seated in Whitney, but the mayor's race remains undecided after a recount was requested due to a one-vote margin.
Janice Sanders, the unofficial winner of the mayoral race, received 76 votes — just one more than her opponent Zach Hamlin. Sanders was not sworn in alongside the council members during a city council canvassing meeting Tuesday night.
Hamlin's supporters filed for a recount before the meeting, claiming two provisional ballots came in after he thought he had won. Those votes helped propel Sanders to victory.
"The reason we're filing for a recount is the mysterious two votes that came in provisionally and came in at the very last minute, after the unofficial results said that Janice Sanders lost," Ken Scales said.
Scales lives in Whitney and tells 25 News that he owns several properties in the downtown area. He believes Hamlin won the election.
"I see that this is much more of a mess than what it should be. For the last three election cycles, it's been a mess. But this one, especially," Scales said.
Another neighbor, Guadalupe "Green Eyes" Munoz, runs a Hill County Facebook page that she says has been very active with discussions about the election.
When I asked why she attended the meeting, Munoz said, "Because of all the messages that I'm getting. Everybody wants to be here. You see how small that place is. Can you go and put it on your page live? And I said, Sure, I said, I'm not into politics."
Several other neighbors, including Munoz, are calling for a runoff rather than the recount.
"The voting process has had problems for the last three elections. I would suggest that we have a runoff," one resident said.
"Being pulled this way, this way, that way, I just feel that the only fairness is going to be a runoff," Munoz said.
The Hill County Elections Office told 25 News the reason those two provisional votes were held up was because of coding issues. The Elections Office says both votes are valid and there would not have been any issues had there not been a coding issue.
"Yes, we have a financial interest. It's also our home. We live here. We're part of the community," Scales said.
25 News tried to speak with the mayor at the end of the canvassing meeting, but she left immediately after it was over.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
