Tedious recount breaks tie in San Gabriel city council race

SAN GABRIEL, Calif. (KABC) -- A tedious recount was done in San Gabriel after a city council race ended in a tie.

Incumbent Juli Costanzo and challenger Denise Menchaca had both received 1276 votes.

"History in the making I guess," said Denise Menchaca.

It was the first tie in the council race in San Gabriel.

After a manual recount of all the ballots cast in the March 3 municipal election, Costanzo came out on top, with 1,279 votes over Menchaca's 1,277 votes.

The city agreed to foot the bill for a recount, and if that had failed to break the tie, state election code requires the seat be awarded by a random selection process because San Gabriel does not have a runoff election in its election ordinance.

A 2007 election tie in Temple City was decided by a coin toss. The San Gabriel City Council would have done a random drawing if the recount did not break the tie.