ELECTION NIGHTMARE? Tie vote leads to recount while two other candidates demand the same

Planning Board contenders Rebeca Stahl and Clifford Thompson have both pulled papers to request a recount for a Planning Board race that left them in a dead tie after Monday's election. The candidates have have until May 17, at 5 p.m. to submit their recount petitions.

A recount petition, according to Clinton Town Clerk Phil Boyce, has to be signed by 10 registered voters from each of the four precincts in town.

Steven Mendoza -- who was ousted from the Board of Selectmen by Mary Rose Dickhaut, an 18-year veteran of the board who ran for re-election after a brief hiatus from town politics -- has also pulled a recount petition. On Monday, Mendoza was beating Dickhaut by about 30 votes after the results from three precincts were read off; however, Dickhaut garnered 327 votes in Precinct 4 compared to Mendoza’s 244. After the voting machines were tallied, Dickhaut led Mendoza by about 50 votes, but managed to pick up another 20 during the hand count to increase her lead.

Tony Marini, another candidate for the Planning Board, has also pulled papers for a recount to challenge the outcome of his race with former Selectman Mark Elworthy. After the initial voting machine tallies, Elworthy was holding a 40-vote lead over Marini.

But just what does a recount entail?

There are two ways a recount can be carried out and it is up to the person seeking the recount to determine which method they prefer.

One option that is available calls for running all the ballots back through the voting machines again to make sure there were no errors. The other method calls for a hand count of each of the ballots cast during the election. If the candidate fails to pick a recount procedure, Boyce said, the machines would tally the votes.

“We have a whole book on what to do in case of a recount and this is the newest version so I haven’t read through it all yet,” Boyce said. “The last time I did one of these was in 1999 and a lot has changed since then, I don’t do one of these each year…thank God.”

With the results in the Planning Board race being tied, and only one vote needed to decide the outcome, it makes sense to ask for a recount. But, could Mendoza and Marini conceivably pick up enough votes to erase Dickhaut and Thompson’s leads and possibly change the outcome of the election?

“Anything’s possible,” Boyce said. “It’s their choice to have a recount or not. There is nothing in the law that says if you lose by 10,000 votes you can’t have a recount. I’m not going to give an opinion on it either way and I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

(Patrick Brodrick can be reached at 978-365-8044 or at pbrodric@cnc.com)