CASSOPOLIS — Eager residents and local politicians sat in chairs against the light blue walls of the Kincheloe Room at the Cass County Building Monday morning, waiting to find out who would win the Republican nomination for Cass County Commissioner — Fifth District. The victor would run unopposed in November.

After Tuesday night’s Michigan primary election, the unofficial results had Robert Benjamin with a one-vote lead over the incumbent candidate, Robert Ziliak: 322 to 321. During the canvassing process, where the election officials verify the votes, it was discovered that a ballot was stuck in an election machine from Howard Township’s third precinct. The machine malfunctioned on election night.

Benjamin and Ziliak were notified of the uncounted ballot on Thursday.

“The Tabulator completely died, so the company came down to service the machine,” said Monica McMichael, the Cass County Clerk. “They couldn’t get it up and running. … They got a spare up and running at the precinct and took the dead one to Grand Rapids. They had not had a chance to work on it when we called looking for the ballot. It was actually completely in the machine.”

Howard Township Deputy Clerk Terri Munger then drove to Grand Rapids with the appropriate seals and certified ballot containers, grabbed the ballot and brought it to McMichael under seal. This prevented the ballot from becoming compromised.

It was opened yesterday morning at 9 a.m. in the Kincheloe Room. Both Benjamin and Ziliak were there, along with McMichael, precinct officials from opposing parties, the Cass County Board of Canvassers and a dozen or so intrigued residents.

There was no guarantee that the ballot would contain a vote for either of the candidates. In Michigan, an election tie results in drawing pieces of paper to determine the winner, said McMichael.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good way or bad way [to decide the winner],” Ziliak said. “Because the voters aren’t really voting for the person at that point. It’s just the luck of the draw.”

Precinct Inspector Sheri Wozniak read the vote for the ballot out loud.

“County Commissioner — Fifth District: Robert Benjamin,” she said.

Benjamin won the primary election: 323 to 321. Both candidates were cordial afterwards.

“We’re friends. It’s nothing personal,” Benjamin said, who is the current supervisor of Milton Township. “You’ve seen the races across Cass County — a lot of them are really, really personal, and it’s important to both of us that you don’t have the tension. If he were to have won, we would need to still work together.”

Ziliak said he plans to petition for a recount.

“I would be disappointed if he didn’t,” Benjamin said. “We want to make sure that all the votes are counted. Even if it flips the vote, at least we know all votes were counted.”

Even if there was a tie, a recount must be petitioned, said McMichael.

The election results were not certified until after the last vote was counted. Ziliak has six days from yesterday to petition for a recount. The recount process will likely also take place in the Kincheloe Room at the Cass County Building.

“Usually, they tabulate,” McMichael said. “It’s a slow process because each candidate can challenge a vote, so they will see the actual ballots going in. … Each candidate can challenge the votes.”

Ballots are counted without their numbers, so no one knows who a ballot belongs to. If a ballot is challenged, McMichael said it will be set aside and then afterwards the Board of Canvassers will rule on whether or not the ballot should count and who gets the vote.

Benjamin plans to hold a town hall meeting for the residents of the fifth district to find out what they would like him to prioritize, but he said he is going to wait until the end of next week to make sure the recount does not yield different a new result.

“I don’t view this as a long-term job,” said Benjamin, who works for Microsoft. “I’m here to serve the people and if they find someone else they prefer then that’s their decision. That’s probably not how most politicians think, but this is not my main job. I’m here to serve the community.”

Benjamin also said this primary race shows how every vote can matter and why it is important for citizens to show up on election day.

“So often we hear across the country that [an election leads] to a tie,” he said. “It’s interesting, out of this whole race there was only one write-in. That one write-in could have made a difference. It’s important. We encouraged everyone to vote. We had good turnout. I really had no clue how this race was going to turn out.”