KEY POINTS:
Yesterday morning Wayne Walker was a former member of the Rodney District Council. By the afternoon, he was back in the fold.
"I'm in by the skin of my teeth," an elated Mr Walker said after his request to the District Court for a recount resulted in him beating Colin MacGillivray for the council's Hibiscus Coast Ward by one vote.
Mr Walker sought the official recount after the October 13 poll.
On polling day he was four votes ahead of Mr MacGillivray.
But when special votes were counted and the result declared on October 17, he was one behind on 5248 votes.
The ousted Mr MacGillivray was philosophical last night.
"There's no sour grapes," he said. "Wayne is committed to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, he is hard working and it's good he is back in."
The council's returning officer, Dale Ofsoske, of Independent Election Services, said it was rare to have an election reversal on a recount.
But he recalled that in the Rodney election three years ago there was a recount for the Northern Ward representative.
It resulted in a tie and was then decided by the toss of a coin.
Mr Ofsoske said the recount confirmed Mr Walker's October 17 tally but Mr MacGillivray lost two votes, hence the difference.
The two votes were reduced because the judge did not allow them as valid.
It came down to an interpretation of what was a valid or what was an informal vote.
