Recount canceled in Manatee County judge race after third-place finisher concedes
Attorney Kristy Zinna will face prosecutor Melissa Gould in the race to fill a seat on the Manatee County court bench, after a recount of Tuesday’s election results was canceled after the third-place finisher conceded.
There were four candidates in Tuesday’s primary election for the seat on the bench currently occupied by Judge Mark Singer: Gould, Zinna, Christoper Pratt and Connie Mederos Jacob. None took more than half the ballots casts, meaning there would be a runoff.
Taking 22,456 votes, or 30.9 percent of ballots cast, Gould came in on top. Zinna took the second position with 17,253 votes, or 23.7 percent, while Pratt trailed closely behind with 17,097 votes, or 23.5 percent of ballots cast.
Separated only by 156 votes, the race triggered an automatic recount to determine the second candidate because the margin between Zinna and Pratt was less than half a percentage point.
The recount was scheduled to take place Friday, but late Thursday Pratt decided to waive his right to a recount, choosing instead to accept the results, according to Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett.
“Mr. Pratt was very gracious about it. I have nothing but the best wishes for him in his future endeavors,” Zinna said Friday morning.
She is now focused on the runoff during the general elections on Nov. 3.
“We are gearing up to working hard. My campaign has been working hard and we will continue to do so,” she said.
Pratt was not immediately for comment.
But Bennett said, “He was a complete gentleman. We should have more people like that running for office.”
Bennett said he explained to Pratt how he had never seen a recount change the outcome of an election.
“You may gain five votes, but you might also lose five votes,” Bennett said.
Zinna, who runs her own private practice in Bradenton focusing on family law, traffic, civil violations and personal injury will face Gould, a prosecutor with the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s office assigned to specialty unit the handles white collar crime, crimes against the elderly and felony animal abuse.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 11:02 AM.
