CASSOPOLIS — Controversy surrounding the race for District 5 Cass County Commissioner has been put to rest following a recount Wednesday.

Following the recount, Milton Township Supervisor Robert Benjamin was confirmed as the Republican candidate for the D5 commissioner seat against incumbent commissioner Robert Ziliak by a vote of 327 to 321.

The petition for a recount was filed by Ziliak after the Aug. 7 election. In the initial election, Benjamin defeated Ziliak by a single vote.

Less than a week later, a “mystery” ballot was found in a voting machine, which could have tied up the votes. As the “mystery” ballot was cast in Benjamin’s favor, it did not tie up the votes, but both Ziliak and Benjamin said they felt the need for a recount in such a close election. In Wednesday’s recount, there were five previously unaccounted-for votes counted for Benjamin.

Cass County Clerk Monica McMichael said there are a number of reasons that could lead to a discrepancy in votes in a recount.

“We ended up doing a hand recount,” McMichael said. “Sometimes we see a difference [in votes] if there was human error in the precinct. There are certain instances where a ballot should be duplicated, and if the precinct inspectors do not duplicate, the tabulator would not count a vote, where the human eye would catch it and count the vote.”

Benjamin said he found the recount process interesting and educational, and that he would have been happy even if the vote had flipped in Ziliak’s favor.

“[Ziliak and I] ran positive campaigns, so there was no bad blood between us, which is a good way to come out of the election,” Benjamin said. “It seems voters equally could not decide between us.”

As Benjamin will be running uncontested in November’s general election, he said he is already planning the ways he wants to contribute to Cass County as D5 commissioner.

“I want to see if we can put the county courthouse issue to rest,” he said, listing off a number of action items he is looking to implement as commissioner. “I really want to get involved in the employee pension plan and making sure we have enough money for that. I don’t want employees to worry that won’t be funded in the future. And I want to take a look at some of the leadership in the county and make sure it is in line with some of the policies the board [of commissioners] sets.”

Saying he is ready to get to work, Benjamin said he plans to keep the concerns of the fifth district at the forefront of what he does as commissioner.

“I’ve had a lot of support from my family and people in the community,” he said. “I’m excited to serve them as commissioner.”