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Medford City Councilor Clay Bearnson avoided a recount after expanding his lead against opponent Jim Herndon, based on the certified election results from Jackson County Elections released Monday. Bearnson, who was ahead of Herndon by 65 votes as of Nov. 7, gained another 10 votes in the final count for Ward 2 in southwest Medford and is now ahead by 75 votes. “I’m stoked,” Bearnson said. “It gives me another four years to do what I want to do.” Herndon previously said he was going to wait until the election was certified before making a decision whether to pay thousands of dollars for a recount. “Probably not,” Herndon said Monday. “Seventy five votes — that’s going to be hard to make up.” Bearnson won 3,173 votes to Herndon’s 3,098. Herndon said he will continue to push for 10 more police officers, more sidewalks in west Medford and reducing property crime. But, he said, this would be his last bid for the council. “I’m not running again for anything,” he said. An automatic recount would be called if the difference between the two candidates amounted to one-fifth of 1 percent of the total votes, or 13 votes. Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker said the final results, which she certified Monday, didn’t change any of the outcomes in any of the races. On Nov. 7, 101,741 ballots were counted, adding up to 66 percent of the total registered voters. The certified election counted 103,852 ballots, or 2,111 more, with a turnout of 67 percent. This county bucked the statewide trend for the governor’s race, giving Republican Knute Buehler 51 percent of the vote to Democratic Gov. Kate Brown’s 41 percent. The extra ballots came from military and overseas, as well as reconciling bad signatures, no signatures and other issues such as ballots rejected by the automatic sorter, Walker said. Bearnson, a Medord businessman, said he will spend the next four years pushing his priorities, which include addressing the housing crisis, homeless issues and downtown revitalization. He said he didn’t put as much effort into the campaign as he should have, noting that he spent just $101.50 to get in the Voter’s Pamphlet and reused lawn signs from the last campaign. Herndon raised $14,190 in contributions, spending $11,132, according to the Oregon Secretary of State. “I was not expecting this hard fought of an election,” Bearnson said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected] . Follow him on @ reporterdm .