NORTHWEST TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — P.J. Perez finished first, but just 24 votes separate Tom Derzypolski and Talethia O. Edwards for second place.
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The race for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3 is headed to a runoff, and a machine recount will likely determine who joins P.J. Perez on the ballot.
With all 80 participating precincts reporting, Perez finished on top with 29.05 percent of the vote. Tom Derzypolski finished second with 10,524 votes. Talethia O. Edwards has 10,500 — just 24 votes behind Derzypolski.
No candidate received enough votes to win outright, so the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff.
Florida law calls for a machine recount when a candidate is defeated or eliminated by one-half of one percent or less of the votes cast. The margin between Derzypolski and Edwards is well within that threshold.
Rising costs were a concern ABC27 heard from voters. One retired neighbor said the squeeze on her fixed income is real.
"Everything you purchase is going smaller and smaller and smaller, and it seems your paying twice as much, you know, for those changes," Barbara Sawyerr said.
Perez addressed that concern.
"People have lived a long life like a woman describing have a lot to offer to our community. We don't need to shutter them away. We need to bring them out to the third spaces and that's what I'm looking to try to optimize for our city," Perez said.
The results still have to go through the canvassing process, and the machine recount could determine who joins Perez in the runoff.
This story was reported on-air 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.
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