FERGUS FALLS — Every vote counted.

Literally.

In the Friday morning recount of the Ward 3 City Council race, incumbent alderman Jay Cichosz defeated challenger Tim Rundquist by a single vote, 354 to 353. Jerry Gullickson, the other candidate in the race, saw his vote total stay the same at 311.

Rundquist submitted a written request for a recount on Wednesday morning, after the city certified the election night totals in the race. The original results had Cichosz at 354 votes and Rundquist at 350 votes.

According to Election Administrator Lynne Olson, the three new votes for Rundquist were tallied by a voting machine as “over votes.” In other words, the machine thought that three ballots had more than one candidate marked in the City Council section. She said that it appeared that the three voters had marked one person’s name, attempted to cross it out and then marked Rundquist’s name.

Olson explained, “As the human eye looks at them, we were able to tell that they should have gone to Tim.”

The votes were examined by eight election judges, plus Olson, at the government services center. Cichosz and Rundquist were also on hand to observe the process, which ended at about 11 a.m.

“He was very gracious and thanked the (judges),” Olson said of Rundquist, dismissing the idea of a further contest of the results.

Cichosz said that while the race was close, it doesn’t change what the outcome means.

“It is what it is,” he said of his victory.

He added that he had fun watching the recount process and was happy with the efforts of the judges and the city in getting the vote totals right.

“It was interesting to watch our political process at work,” he said.

Rundquist agreed. “I thought that the process was completely fair and conducted in an open manner,” he said, adding that he thanks the people who worked on the recount and wishes Cichosz the best during his upcoming term. “I would just like to say to anyone who thinks that their vote doesn’t count that it absolutely does.”

Though Rundquist has no plans to contest the results further, he said that there is a “distinct possibility” that he will run for office again in the city.

The votes for the Ward 3 race will be recertified at the Monday night City Council meeting.