Frisco accepts Mark Piland recount petition for Jan. 31 Place 1 election

The City Secretary’s Office officially accepted candidate Mark Piland’s Petition for Recount on Monday, February 16, 2026, the City of Frisco said, triggering a hand recount of the Jan. 31 special election for Frisco City Council Place 1 after the Feb. 10 canvass showed Ann Anderson with 4,063 votes and Piland with 3,953, a 110-vote margin.

The Jan. 31 special election was held to fill the unexpired Place 1 term vacated when Council Member John Keating stepped down in October 2025 to run for mayor; Keating will continue representing Place 1 until the new member is sworn in and his mayoral bid will be decided in the May 2, 2026 general election. LocalProfile reported voter turnout at Collin County locations of 5.37 percent and at Denton County locations of 6.92 percent during the Jan. 31 special election.

Frisco’s press release states the city “has seven days to complete the recount, which will be done in conjunction with the Collin County Elections Administration and the Denton County Elections Administration. Official recount results will be posted by 5 p.m. on Monday, February 23.” Collin County elections administrator Kaleb Breaux outlined operational timing, saying, “A team of six Frisco residents, three who reside in Collin County and three who reside in Denton County, will recount the ballots by hand,” and that Collin County ballots will begin being counted at 9 a.m. Thursday, February 19 while Denton County ballots will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, February 21.

Breaux added the Collin County count could take up to eight hours because some committee members will be trained “on the job.” The city and county administrations will run the manual counts in separate sessions and must complete the work within the seven-day window the city cited; the city repeated that official recount results will be posted by 5 p.m. on Feb. 23.

Because of the recount, Frisco said the Place 1 swearing-in originally scheduled for the next council meeting has been moved; the City of Frisco Facebook post stated, “As a result of the recount, the candidate swear-in for Place 1 is now expected to happen at the Tuesday, March 3, Frisco City Council meeting.”

Candidate backgrounds and immediate reactions remain on record: LocalProfile identified Piland as a former Frisco fire chief and emergency management coordinator who retired in September 2022 amid allegations tied to a February 2021 apartment fire report; Dallasnews captured Ann Anderson’s social media response: “My opponent has chosen to request a recount. That is his right under Texas law. To my supporters, thank you for your continued encouragement.”

Dallasnews also noted Texas law permits recount petitions “by 5 p.m. of the third business day after the canvass,” and reporting available to date does not include a timestamp for when Piland’s petition was submitted. The city, Collin County and Denton County provide the scheduled start times for the hand counts and say they will post the final recount totals by 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23.