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The saga continues
Posted on May 11, 2007 by kraus2686
Filed Under Clinton, Elections, Noah's posts |
The Clinton town clerk has confirmed it: we’re looking at three recounts. The Planning Board tie race was shaping up as a given, but now former Selectman Steven Mendoza is calling for a recount in the selectmen’s race after he lost by 70 votes. Mendoza was ahead most of the day, beating out Mary Rose Dickhaut through most of the precincts. The last few hours of the election, however, saw his lead erode and then disappear. It must have been tough to watch that happen, but it seems unlikely a recount of approximately 2,000 voters is going to yield much more than a five to 10 vote difference. If it does, then we’ve got some serious problems going on at the voting booths.
Anthony Marini is also calling for a recount. He lost to former Selectman Mark Elworthy by 40 votes. That race really heated up toward the end, sparked mostly by a Telegram & Gazette story that delved into posts Marini made online and this letter Elworthy sent to us in regard to his opponent.
This is the election that just won’t end. The Planning Board recount seems like a natural choice, but what about the other races? Should Mendoza and Marini simply accept their losses? Would you? Chime in if you like.
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5 Responses to “The saga continues”
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The explanation for my call for a recount has nothing to do with sour grapes or an inability on my part to accept loss. I’ve spent my adult lifetime designing electronic machines, and I can tell you that they are imperfect at best. At their worst, they can be a nightmare. Given the number of complaints that I’ve heard about rejected ballots and other problems at our most recent town election, I can’t help but being troubled about the accuracy of the vote count(s). it makes me ask, “Is there a problem this time around”? i’m not buying into the hanky-panky theory…my issue is with possible machine error based on the numerous voting problems encountered by others. that’s it…mystery solved!!
I have a personal threshold of 100 votes…if I had lost by that or more, then I could accept that margin. But forty votes. That translates into ten per precinct. I asked myself, and I ask you the same, “Is it remotely possible that there could be this magnitude of error”? It wasn’t hard for me to say “Yes”, particularly in light of today’s Times and Courier story regarding 6 out of 6 void provisional ballots. Mistakes happen, and I think I’m well justified in requesting a recount. (It is ironic to note that I need to obtain ten signatures per precinct on my recount petition!)
I remember the great push after the 2000 presidential election that “all ballots should count and be counted”. I’m asking for no less! If I had won by a similar margin, I would EXPECT my opponent to have done the same thing. My call for a recount is to take the ambiguity out of my mind regarding the result…if the process is OKAY, then the vote tally should remain the same. If it changes by even one vote, then although the outcome won’t change for me, if I owned that one vote that was registered incorrectly or omitted for whatever reason, I’d then have real reason to be concerned. My voice wasn’t being heard!
Voting IS a net sum zero activity…we cannot tolerate any errors or problems when we vote. It is, after all, the most precious right accorded us by the Constitution.
This really is the election that wont quit. The recount on the Stahl/Thompson race is a no brainer, but two more for 70 and 50 votes out of 2400? It is kind of sureal that all candidates requesting recounts are of the same political ilk. Especially ironic for Mr. Marini, in a conversation about presidential politics I had with him several years ago while serving on a committee with him, he said the Clinton recount was rediculous. That was for 537 votes out of 3 million cast in a whole state. Now he is using the very argument to justify his.
Such amazing powers of recollection Joe! How convenient!
Why not just come right out and say that you’re not a supporter of mine and think I’m full of it. And if I use your analytical skills, i’ve already lost by an additional 10 votes (it was 40 votes).
Sheesh…
I’m not going to comment on whether or not I think there should be a recount by Mr. Marini or Mr. Mendoza. I do have to agree with Joe that a recount for the Stahl/Thompson race is a “no brainer.”
As for the question as to whether or not there were voting machine inaccuracies, I can only say that while I was covering the election I stood by the voting machines for several minutes talking with the election officials and I witnessed two ballots being kicked back. One was kicked back because the gentleman mistakenly voted for two candidates, instead of one, in the School Committee race. The other was because a gentleman had filled in the ovals but had gone quite a bit outside the lines. In each instance that I saw, the ballot was immediately taken by one of the election officials, folded and placed into a manila envelope with VOID written on it. Those people were then brought back to get another ballot to fill in.
It all looked very orderly and professional to me, and both times it seemed like a minor inconveinence to the person, if anything at all. I didn’t see anyone that had a difficult time voting or even anything that made me question whether or not there were voting inaccuracies. I also watched several people get brought into the Town Clerk’s Office when their name didn’t appear on the voting lists. The Clerk checked for any record of the person, and if they were found they were given a slip to go back to get in line for a ballot. Again, from what I witnessed, it was all very professional, handled in a timely manner, and appeared to be a very simple process.
I’ve been told that I’m a ’sourgrape” for investigating the tie that my wife has on the PB. Well today, I got the official lists of all the voters in all 4 precincts and the official number of votes cast for the positions under question. These official documents came from the Town Clerk’s office, so there should not be any problems with the numbers… correct? There are problems with the vote tallies in 3 out of the 4 precincts. In two precincts there are more votes cast than actual number of voters and in one precinct there are missing votes, but that could be explained by no votes being cast and a blank ballot inserted, correct. The total number of ‘problems amount to over 60, so this could affect several seats. I will give the town officials the documents on Monday, since the office is now closed. Have a great weekend.