One citizen's vote can make a difference, as a recount of Augusta Township ballots proved Monday.

The fire department millage request, which originally failed on a 401-401 tie in the Aug. 8 primary election, actually passed by a 401-400 vote, according to a hand recount conducted Monday by the Washtenaw County Clerk's Office.

County elections director Derrick Jackson said the voting machine could have misread one of the ballots as a no vote. "There is no real way to tell," he said.

In addition to Augusta, two candidates asked for election recounts but those outcomes did not change the results of the primary, Jackson said.

Augusta Township Treasurer William Babut said Monday's reversal was proof that "your vote does matter, one vote does matter."

With one victory under their belt, Augusta Township officials are getting a lot more serious about educating the voters about a police millage request that will be back on the ballot in November, after it failed last month. They said that the renewal and increase of the police millage they're seeking will allow them to contract for a third county sheriff's deputy to patrol the township.

"I think we'll get it through." township Clerk Kathy Jackson said.

"We have to have law enforcement, we have to be able to fund police services."

She said part of the problem with the August vote was that the election was a primary, and fewer than 30 percent of registered voters turned out. Exit polling of voters, she said, also showed they didn't understand the issues.

In the case of the fire department request for an operating millage, many of the voters leaving the polls mistakenly thought they were being asked to pay for a new fire station, Kathy Jackson said. The 1-mill property tax, which includes a 0.25-mill increase, will fund fire services only - responses to fire and medical emergencies, both of which have gone up 25 percent in the last two years, according to Fire Chief Vic Chevrette.

Without the millage, Chevrette has said, the fire department would have had to stop responding to medical emergencies - which currently compose 80 percent of the department's service calls.

Kathy Jackson said she believes voters turned down the police millage because they think they aren't getting police responses to calls as quickly as they should.

"People expect that if they call, and it takes too long to get there, it's a problem. The problem is you have to pass a millage to have coverage seven days a week. We feel we need to hire another officer," Kathy Jackson said.

For police services, voters will see a half-mill renewal and a half-mill increase on the ballot in November. With just under a mill already in place under a millage that comes up for renewal in 2008, approval of the two measures would put the total levied for police services at 1.94 mills.

The new fire millage, and the police millage if it passes, won't be collected until December 2007.

In addition to Augusta Township's request, five political candidates originally asked for election recounts. But three of them withdrew their requests Monday, leaving only applications from Rod Johnson and Mark Namatevs to recount their votes, Jackson said.

Johnson lost to Brian Robb by nine votes for the 3rd Ward City Council seat in Ypsilanti. He said he was disappointed with the loss but the recount put a "finality to it." Robb defeated Johnson 306 to 297 in the recount.

Namatevs lost to county Commissioner Ronnie Peterson in District 6. Peterson defeated Namatevs 1,201 to 1,180. There was no change in the result of this race, Derrick Jackson said.