Jeff Cooper had dealt with enough election drama, and wasn’t going to put himself through the ringer one more time.

So as Culver City officials gathered at City Hall on Friday, April 16 to count the 436 outstanding ballots that remained as part of the April 13 general election to elect two candidates to the five-person city council, Cooper found refuge on a Venice golf course.

“I had given a directive to my (campaign) staff to give me a ‘Y’ or an ‘N,’” Cooper said. “I told them to be as direct as they could. I did not need much editorial commentary or play-by-play. I was just looking for finality.”

So it was that Cooper received the simple affirmation that, barring a major last-minute scandal, he has indeed cemented his spot as the No. 2 vote-getter in last week’s election. At the conclusion of Friday’s count, Cooper maintained a 31-vote advantage over fellow newcomer Meghan Sahli-Wells, leaving the sole matter of canvassing the election — a mere formality designed to uncover any voting irregularities — before it is certified by city officials.

Once that happens at the next meeting of the Culver City City Council on Monday, April 26, Cooper is expected to join top vote-getter and council incumbent Scott Malsin on the dais alongside council members Andrew Weissman, Christopher Armenta and Micheál (Mehaul) O’Leary as the five men who will represent the city for the next two years.

“I felt like I had let my guard down a little bit and let myself celebrate,” said Cooper of his reaction to the news Friday night. “It was a hard-fought battle between worthy opponents.”

Just 42 votes separated Cooper and Sahli-Wells once the original ballot count was completed in the hours immediately following the close of the polls April 13. At that time, city officials estimated another 150 ballots remained due to last-minute, vote-by-mail submissions and provisional ballots. However, the next morning the city clerk’s office revealed that number to be closer to 450, creating plenty of tension in both the Cooper and Sahli-Wells campaigns.

The final count saw Sahli-Wells slice into that margin, but not enough to flip the result. Cooper emerged with 2,486 votes, while Sahli-Wells finished with 2,455.

Malsin won the election with 2,911 votes, and the fourth candidate on the ballot, Robert Zirgulis, finished with 841.

“We ran a great race. We made amazing progress, and I think we really started a movement,” said Sahli-Wells, finally resigned to her fate as the third-place finisher. “The fact of the matter is with that kind of a close call, we knew that I had a lot of support.

“I’ll still fight for all of those issues that were a part of my platform because those issues haven’t disappeared with the end of the election. … Frankly, there’s a lot of work to do.”

Cooper is about to find out how true that is, as he and the four other members of the newly seated council will be asked to immediately jump into the ongoing budget crisis and several other issues that continue to loom over the city.

“For the last year I’ve slept, ate and breathed, ‘Get elected, get elected.’ That part has ended,” Cooper said. “The reality is that now the responsibility that I’ve earned getting a majority of the votes sets in. And I’m excited about that.

“I’m excited about working with the other councilmen and having a united, cohesive body that gets things done.”

Meanwhile, Sahli-Wells insisted she will still be a regular participant at Monday night city council meetings and will continue her work on various city and neighborhood committees, and she likewise promised she won’t be a one-time council candidate soon to be forgotten.

“I’m just going to keep on keeping on, and I’ll definitely make another run in the future,” Sahli-Wells said.