SHAMOKIN - Dan McGaw will not petition the results or the integrity of the city's mayoral election.
McGaw lost to Bill Milbrand by a single vote to become Shamokin's mayor for a four-year term beginning in January.
He had considered petitioning the county court but said Friday he would not do so.
"Nope, he won," McGaw said.
The deadline to file a petition to recanvass the results of voting machines was Friday, five days after Northumberland County's election results were given initial certification, according to Pennsylvania Election Code and the Department of State.
Final certification is official when the county commissioners sign off on the results, which Alisha Herb, director of elections, expected either Friday afternoon or Monday.
If a recanvass had been ordered by the Court of Common Pleas, it would have had to be completed by Monday, 20 days after the general election, election code states.
McGaw didn't want to expand on what grounds he was considering a petition.
McGaw was a relative unknown when he announced his candidacy for mayor. He was the lone candidate in the Republican primary and seemed a long shot to defeat Democrat Bill Milbrand, a sitting city councilman.
He led Milbrand by nine votes after the votes cast at the city's 13 polling stations on Nov. 5 were tabulated. The final result came down to the tabulation of 46 absentee ballots, and Milbrand edged McGaw 603-602.
The remaining two years on Milbrand's council term will be filled by an appointment by city council.
McGaw said he was happy with his campaign and acknowledged that his profile is raised. He said he'd like to stay active albeit on the outskirts of city politics, and said it was hard to say if he'd run again.
"I'm just going to sit back and watch the world unfold," McGaw said, referencing the necessary appointment by council.
To have voting machines recanvassed, three qualified electors of a voting precinct must successfully petition the Court of Common Pleas to have the votes in that precinct counted again by a person appointed by the court.
Petitions contesting results of municipal elections in Upper Mahanoy and East Cameron townships were filed in county court. Petitioners cite behavior of a candidate in Upper Mahanoy Township and a candidate's relative in East Cameron Township in the separate petitions.