Sunny Isles Beach mayor winner officially certified after razor-thin margin in race
Days after the runoff election, the challenger in the Sunny Isles Beach mayoral race on Friday was officially certified the winner in a razor-thin victory over the incumbent.
Larisa Svechin will take office Jan. 5 after beating opponent Mayor Dana Goldman with a 20-vote margin and 50.3% of the vote, which was less than a percentage point over Goldman’s 49.7%, the Sunny Isles Beach canvassing board confirmed in certifying the votes Friday. Initially after the runoff Tuesday, the two were separated by 26 votes with Svechin in the lead.
Svechin said she was elated with the results. She said her focus now turns to the city of Sunny Isles Beach: “I want to assure everyone that I have no hard feelings and will work with everyone.”
During the meeting, Goldman’s attorney Joseph Geller raised concerns about the signature verification process. “This is an extraordinarily close vote — only a 20-vote margin. We felt that there were some issues of concern that we asked the canvassing board to take a look at, unfortunately they declined our invitation to do so,” Geller told the Herald. “We think there were some issues of concern and we will further consider our options.”
Svechin’s win comes after about 60 mail ballots were flagged as needing to be “cured” or verified because their signatures did not match those on file. Residents had until 5 p.m. Thursday to verify their signatures.
In total, the board rejected 18 mail ballots: one was outside the county; two did not have a signature on the envelope; and 15 had no signature match, Miami-Dade deputy supervisor of elections Suzy Trutie told the Herald.
The runoff came after each candidate received less than 50% of the vote in the Nov. 8 election, when Svechin netted 2,452 votes, which put her in the lead with 43.2% compared with 42.6% for Goldman. It was not the first time Goldman and Svechin went head to head.
Last year, Goldman won a runoff against then-interim Mayor Svechin in a special election following the resignation of Mayor George Scholl.
This story was originally published December 9, 2022 at 4:21 PM.
