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Cooper seeking recount
Top Headlines Cooper finished out of the running for a council seat by 63 votes in Tuesday's election. He said questions about the outcome were raised in his mind by a voting machine that malfunctioned in Ward 6A and what he says was "a premature release" of information from the city election office. The information had him winning the election, Cooper said. Forms from the Secretary of State's office that need to be filled out are expected to arrive in the city today. "As soon as the paperwork comes in, I will be filing for a recount," Cooper said. "I'm hoping it will change the outcome, but I'm not sure that it will." He said he wants all 12 precincts recounted. Cooper finished sixth in a six-person race for five at-large council seats, just behind incumbent Kim Allard. He got 2,569 votes to Allard's 2,632 votes. All told, there were 16,422 votes cast in the at-large race. Allard got 16.03 percent and Cooper got 15.64 percent. On Wednesday, Election Commissioner Phil Daniels said a voting machine in Ward 6 malfunctioned early on election day and was replaced. It was later confirmed the machine was located in Ward 6A. Ballots were kept in a locked box in the machine until the new machine arrived, he said. Daniels said he's confident that the tally produced by the replacement machine is correct. According to machine tallies, Allard beat Cooper by 25 votes, 161 to 136 in 6A. Daniels couldn't be reached Thursday night to comment on questions about Cooper's allegations of information being released prematurely. On election night, election office workers posted the results as they came in by telephone from the precincts. A number of observers, including a Sun Chronicle reporter, added the precinct results as they came in, and came up with Allard edging Cooper by 63 votes, which was later confirmed by a computer tally. Meanwhile, Allard said it's Cooper's right to request a recount if he has questions about the result. "I have the utmost respect for the election commission and the election department, but it's Mr. Cooper's right to request a recount if he chooses," she said. It hasn't been determined how much a recount will cost the city, election office administration Maryann Draine said. Ward 5 school committee candidate David Sidman, who lost to incumbent Frances Zito be seven votes, has also said he plans to seek a recount.
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The Watcher wrote on Nov 6, 2009 6:20 PM:
not sure about the 5 or less rule. Sorry I could not be of more help. "
sunshinesonfire wrote on Nov 6, 2009 6:15 PM:
I had NOT thought of Mike Tyler asking for a recount, but I agree, I think it would be appropriate also, and it is tough to say, because there was no city council race for ward 6, so who knows how many people actually voted in ward six. Interesting.
The Watcher: I keep asking, but no one ever answers: Is there a special rule when the difference of votes for two candidates is 5 or less? "
The Watcher wrote on Nov 6, 2009 5:11 PM:
All three candidates have valid reasons to call for the recount as there very well be unaccounted for votes. "
sunshinesonfire wrote on Nov 6, 2009 4:16 PM:
It is quite possible that the malfunctioning machine misread 33 votes. Plus I think that if the difference of votes is five or less, then there is some special rule, but I don't know what the special rule is. "
ricknkim wrote on Nov 6, 2009 2:32 PM:
The Watcher wrote on Nov 6, 2009 12:25 PM:
common_sense wrote on Nov 6, 2009 10:08 AM:
ricknkim wrote on Nov 6, 2009 9:10 AM:
s-plumb wrote on Nov 6, 2009 8:18 AM:
johnnyahab wrote on Nov 6, 2009 7:28 AM: