WEST MELBOURNE, Fla. — Just two votes separate Adam Gaffney (4,885) and Stephen Phrampus (4,887) in the race for a West Melbourne city council seat.

It’s a statistical tie with each earning 12.75% of the vote, making it a nail-biting time for both candidates.

“When I first saw the votes drop, I was one behind, and I didn’t know the process with the whole recounting, I thought it was over at that point,” Phrampus said.

When everyone went to sleep on election night, Gaffney was up on Phrampus by one vote.

He was confident, as all 3 precincts were in.

“At that point I’m thinking, I got it, even though it’s a slim margin, and when I woke up this morning, I realized I didn’t have it, I lost by two, two votes,” Gaffney said.

Overnight, more votes trickled in and resulted in the slim margin.

Now comes a recount of the entire seven candidate field.

“Florida statute mandates that any race is one half of one percent difference between the winner and the loser, then we will automatically conduct a machine recount,” said Brevard Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic.

If the machine recount remains the same, then a manual recount will be done.

Each candidate says they are confident in the process and are now true believers of an age-old adage.

“They say every vote counts, and it really does,” Gaffney said.

“Every vote counts. This is a prime example of how it matters when you go out and vote,” said Phrampus.

The next step in the process is to certify the first unofficial results at the Brevard Supervisor of Elections canvassing board meeting on Friday.

Both candidates say they will be there.