Man who lost close Knoxville City Council race doesn't plan a challenge

Man who lost close Knoxville City Council race doesn't plan a challenge

By HARLOW SUMERFORD
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- In Knoxville City Council's Fourth District, Nick Della Volpe defeated Ray Abbas by a mere 70 votes, 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent.

However, there's no automatic recount in the city, no matter how close the election is.

Still, the day after the election, Abbas weighed his options.

According to the Knox County Election Commission, a recount would only happen if Abbas challenged the election in the court system.

"This isn't Florida. We don't have hanging chads. We have these pretty good voting machines and people get to dial and select and even review before they cast their votes. Unless something comes up in the future, I just don't see it," Della Volpe says.

He also says he and his opponent spoke after the results.

Della Volpe doesn't expect a challenge, but Abbas did contact the election office about the narrow victory.

"With such a low voter turnout, 70 votes is 70 votes. Now, as I spoke with Greg Mackay we talked about if there were any anomalies or anything strange or out of the ordinary that occurred on election day or in early voting for that matter and there weren't any," Abbas explains.

On Wednesday, Della Volpe met with other winners and prepared to take office.

"There is always the time of second guessing, but you know we won two thirds of the precincts here in Knoxville, so we had a great showing," Abbas says.

According to the election office, candidates have 10 days from the time an election is certified to challenge it.