POULSBO — After a tense weekend, city councilman Mike Regis can finally get down to the business of officially challenging Poulsbo Mayor Donna Jean Bruce for her position.

Regis survived the primary election following a Monday recount which gave him a slim five vote edge over candidate Sherry Appleton. As a result, he will face Bruce in the Nov. 6 general election.

Last week saw the councilman’s bid for mayor slipping while Appleton’s support appeared to be digging in for the long haul. Leading the third-place candidate by 10 votes last Monday, Regis’ lead had been cut in half by Friday.

But, as he explained, “All I need is one more than the third place challenger.”

It came pretty close.

Kitsap County Auditor Karen Flynn confirmed the recount numbers on Monday, pointing out that Mayor Bruce had picked up two votes in the final tally and both Regis and Appleton added another ballot to their stacks.

“Both Regis and Appleton had citizens who actually did write in votes for them,” she explained, noting that the write-ins were not tabulated with the original counts.

The additional ballots left Regis with 509 votes, Appleton with 504 and Mayor Bruce well ahead of the both challengers with 931. There were also four additional write-ins.

“The recount did not change the outcomes,” Flynn said. “A couple more citizens voted for (Mayor Bruce) but they made such a light mark that they didn’t pick up on the tabulator. They were very clearly for her though. That’s the kind of thing we like to find in a recount.”