By Brian Hews
Norwalk City Clerk Teresa DeVoy has ordered a recount of the council election to start March 18. Below is the email Ms. DeVoy released today:
Through the required Manual Tally process for this election in which we hand-counted the votes for one randomly selected precinct, the votes for Precinct 17 were tabulated and it was noted that the outcome differed from the machine count. The totals increased by 7 votes spread among four candidates. Upon examination of the ballots in the Poll box it was determined that two ballots should have been highlighted and 1 ballot should have been duplicated on Election Day in order for the machine to effectively count the votes on those ballots, and as a result, 5 votes were not counted by the machine. Additionally, it appears that 1 ballot from the VBM box was not read properly, and two votes were not counted as a result. This result is an anomaly, and while we were able to determine the cause, I have concerns that there may be other ballots that weren’t counted correctly.
As the Elections Official it is my responsibility to ensure that the integrity of this and all elections is preserved and trusted. Therefore, I have decided to order a re-examination of the ballots and machine recount on Monday, March 18, beginning at 9 a.m. in the City Council Chambers. You and the public are welcome to attend.
LCCN will provide updates when available.
