Close Starkey win over Topal in Davie headed for a recount at 4 p.m.

BY SAMUEL P. NITZE

snitze@herald.com

A recount of Davie Vice Mayor Susan Starkey's eight-vote victory over challenger Mitchell Topal is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. today.

As of late this morning, Starkey had 1,273 votes to Topal's 1,265 a margin easily tight enough to trigger a mandatory recount.

The touch-screen voting machines do not generate paper records, so the recount will involve running the electronic votes and hand-counting the absentee ballots again to verify the numbers.

The District 3 race was by far the most intense of the town's election season.

Topal accused Starkey of bending to developers' wishes at the public's expense. Starkey said her record of preserving open space and fighting for the town's ''rural lifestyle'' regulations showed otherwise.

Accusations of ethical lapses also came into play.

Starkey came under investigation by the Broward State Attorney's Office for alleged links to harsh emails sent to town officials, apparently from fictitious residents. She was cleared of criminal wrongdoing, but some of Topal's supporters said they believed Starkey or her husband were behind the messages.

Starkey said Topal's supporters generated the investigation as part of an ugly, underhanded campaign meant to distract voters from her record.

Starkey has said she may challenge the election results, whatever the final outcome, as some of her supporters claimed a computer error prevented them from voting properly.

In the town's two other races, voters returned District 2 incumbent Michael Crowley and District 4 incumbent Judy Paul to office by wide margins.