Spencer Duncan wins Topeka City Council seat by 13 votes
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) — Spencer Duncan will join the Topeka City Council after beating out incumbent Councilman Jeff Coen.
The Shawnee County Board of Canvassers met on Thursday to count provisional ballots and certify election results.
Shawnee County Election Commissioner Andrew Howell says those provisional ballots could be anything from unregistered voters to a recent name change.
“If you’re not a registered voter for example, or you didn’t sign your ballot envelope. You had a mail ballot, the law does not allow those votes to be counted,” Howell said.
Final results showed 1,087 votes for Duncan and 1,074 votes for Coen, a spread of less than one percent.
Duncan had a 14 vote lead on election night and after provisional votes were counted, he won by 13 votes.
The newly elected councilman says that while the wait for the official results was unexpected, he’s glad that every vote that could be counted, was.
“It’s always humbling when any number of people vote for you, but especially when the majority vote for you. It’s also a lot of trust that a lot of people have put into me,” Duncan said.
Duncan will represent the 8th district, which includes parts of southwest Topeka, which he already has ideas to help improve.
“Some of it’s quality of life improvement, some of it’s some targeted tax decreases in certain areas,” Duncan said. “And improving public safety, that’s a big one for people all across the city.”
In 2017, Duncan ran for Mayor of Topeka, narrowly losing to Michelle De La Isla.
Coen was first elected to the Topeka City Council in 2015.