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Voters approved the proposition, with 12,210 voting yes and 12,103 voting no. A recount was necessary because the margin was less than 0.5%. A state law that took effect last year requires a recount if the margin of victory is 0.5% or 20 votes. 

Cayuga County Elections Commissioner Katie Lacey said there were additional votes tallied during the two-day recount, which began on Monday. Some voters circled yes or no on the ballot proposition instead of filling in the bubble. Because the bubble wasn't filled, the machine did not read their vote on the question. 

However, during a manual recount, election workers can see the intent of the voter and count their vote, Lacey said. 

With the approval of the proposition, the Cayuga County Legislature will decrease from 15 to 11 seats and there will be new legislative districts. Seven of the districts will be outside the city of Auburn — District 1 (Ira, Sterling and Victory), District 2 (Conquest, Mentz, Montezuma and Throop), District 3 (Brutus and Cato), District 4 (Aurelius, Fleming and Springport), District 5 (Owasco and Sennett), District 6 (Genoa, Ledyard, Locke and Scipio) and District 7 (Moravia, Niles, Sempronius, Summerhill and Venice). Auburn will be split into four districts, districts 8-11. 

The proposal to reduce the number of legislative seats and redraw district lines received near-unanimous support among legislators before it the question was posed to voters. 

Legislator Chris Petrus was one of the leading proponents of downsizing the body from 15 to 11 seats. He advocated for its passage when legislators considered it earlier this year. But one of his colleagues, Legislator Lydia Patti Ruffini, opposed the 11-district plan. She thought it would adversely affect local representation because the districts would be larger.

The new districts will be in effect for the 2023 local elections. The winners of the 11 seats will take office in January 2024. 

One other change related to the ballot question is the elimination of weighted voting. Because the county Legislature did not redraw district lines after the 2010 census, it used a weighted voting system. Now that there will be new districts with similar numbers of voters, weighted voting is no longer needed. 

The county Board of Elections also finished the recount for a close race in the town of Throop. Ernest Thurston, Jr., a Republican, is the winner of a Throop town council seat. He defeated Democrat Donna Adams by 10 votes.