Election recount deadline is Friday
Published on April 12th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Selectman hopeful Daniel Doherty has yet to formally seek a recount of last Tuesday's election tallies, which narrowly secured incumbent Bob Sweeney another term on the board by a 13 vote margin.
According to Town Clerk John Hanright, Doherty and his followers will have until this Friday at 5 p.m. to file the necessary paperwork, which requires that 10 residents from each voting precinct request another count of the ballots.
"A petitioner has until 5 p.m. on Friday, April 14, to submit the recount petitions. Then the Selectmen and the Board of Registrars all have to be notified and a date will be set for a recount," Hanright explained.
Reached by telephone late Tuesday afternoon, Doherty echoed comments made following last Tuesday's release of the voting totals, which showed Sweeney capturing 1248 ballots in his favor to the Finance Board member's 1235 vote total.
Specifically, the Forest Road resident continues to believe that Sweeney's narrow margin of victory justified another look at the results, but the candidate reiterated that he would not challenge the outcome on his own.
"I stick by the same comments. It was close, close enough where it could definitely warrant a look. But that's pretty much my stance. It's not about the candidate, it's about [the voters]," remarked Doherty, saying that he will leave it up to town residents to decide whether a recount is necessary.
"It was close, close enough where it can definitely warrant a look. But up until Friday, it's an open issue. If at that time, no paperwork has been filed [by my supporters], then it's a dead issue," the Finance Board member added.
According to the Town Clerk, should the proper paperwork be filed this Friday, his office will have to hire up to 30 people to conduct the recount, which will be overseen by the Town Counsel Bill Solomon and the Board of Registrars. Hanright estimates that a recount would cost between $3500 and $4000.
Should a recount be requested, the ballots, which have been locked up since last Tuesday's election, will be unsealed and divided by precinct into piles of 50, where the results will be counted for a second time by hand.
Specifically, readers will review the ballots, which will then be checked for a second time by a second person before being included in the totals. A third person will tabulate each vote onto a tally sheet.
"If there's a challenge to a vote, the runner will bring it to the Board of Registrars for a ruling on that. In this case, the intent of the voter will be huge," said Hanright, explaining that ballot results can be overturned when it is believed that a resident "intended" to vote for a specific candidate.
According to Doherty and Hanright, the recount of the election's "blank" ballots - there were 741 cast in the Selectmen's race - will likely be the only manner in which a vote is overturn.
However, the Town Clerk stressed that the voting machines utilized in Stoneham's elections are considered the most accurate devices available in the nation. As such, Hanright strongly expects that the outcome of last Tuesday's election will stand.
"If you go back to the 2000 elections if Florida, the Accu-Vote system was the only unfloored system in the entire state. We have never had discrepancies in the past with these machines. And I feel very strongly that this will result in the same outcome as in prior elections," the Town Clerk predicted.
The most likely way in which a vote will be overturn, says Hanright, will occur when a person failed to fill in the bubble for a candidate, but made some type of mark on the ballot - such as circling a name or drawing a line next to an individual - that clearly illustrates an intent to cast a vote for a specific person.
"I'm not that concerned. I think it's significant when that many blanks were cast," said Doherty, when asked if he was worried about the price-tag of a recount given Hanright's prediction that the results would stand.
"$3500 to $4000 is not an excessive amount. Town elections are important, I think that 25 percent of the town thought this was important enough to show-up to."
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