Tashiba Graham's victory in the Appoquinimink School Board election held earlier this month was confirmed by a recount conducted Monday.
The recount was conducted at the Department of Elections' New Castle County Warehouse after Ray Petkevis secured 25 signatures for a potition after finishing just four votes behind Graham (970-966) in the May 9 election.
A hand count of the voting machine ballots and absentee ballots was done in a public meeting at the facility off of Lisa Drive, before the Department of Elections recertified the result.
"No, I didn't win the election, it was four votes, but there's a victory in that. The schools are going to start to have a focus on something they didn't previously."
Petkevis said that focus was a campaign pledge to reduce fights inside Appo's schools, which he said Superintendent Dr. Matt Burrows ended up addressing.
"The reason I set out to do this was to shine a spotlight on the fact we have an excessive amount of violence in our schools. I've accomplished putting a spotlight on that."
When asked if he would run again, Petkevis said he was concerned about personal attacks on social media.
"A lot of other folks have been attacked in very personal ways on a very public format, I think that's a think that would persuade a lot of people from stepping into this arena."
Petkevis said he would also like to see the Department of Elections improve security around ballots.
WDEL reached out to Tashiba Graham, but did not receive a response.
