Gonzales Mayor Connie Kacir wins re-election bid

According to an unofficial tabulation revised May 8, Connie Kacir is projected to win a second term as Gonzales mayor. Initial totals from election day showed Kacir landing exactly 50 percent of the vote, which left her one vote shy of securing an outright victory. At noon on May 8, the Early Voting Ballot Board reconvened at Gonzales City Hall to count eligible provisional and mail-in ballots as determined by the voter registrar. A combination of four mail-in and provisional ballots, two from early voting and two from election day, were given to Kacir, bringing her to 50.2 percent of the vote.

Unlike the rest of the elections in county that took place May 6, Gonzales operates on majority election rules. In order to win a majority election a candidate is required to secure 50 percent plus one vote. With 50.2 percent of the vote, Kacir now has enough votes to avoid a runoff and declare an outright victory.

However, at around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 Rob Brown filed for a recount in the Gonzales mayoral election. According to unofficial tabulations, Brown secured 491 of the 1,126 total votes. That amounted to 43.6 percent of the vote, 6.6 percent behind projected race winner Kacir.

According to state law, a recount petition can only be filed if the candidate is less than 10 percent behind first place. Brown meets that threshold.

Brown decided to file the petition to put a definitive end to this election.

“This isn’t a decision I take lightly, this has been a heated election,” Brown said. “I am doing this so that we can end the speculation and innuendo in this heated election. All of the citizens in Gonzales deserve closure and finality to this.”

The recount is scheduled for Saturday, May 11 at 8 a.m. In accordance with state election law, the recount committee will not include any of the workers from early voting or election day.

Regardless of the outcome of the recount, Bob Burchard has no apparent path to a runoff and his campaign is effectively finished.

All local elections in county are deemed to be unofficial until they are canvassed by city council. Council must provide 72 hours’ notice before a canvass can be conducted. May 15 is the canvass deadline for the City of Gonzales.