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Recount on Board of Education Does Not Change Results

The Republicans now control the Board of Selectmen for the first time since the 2003 election with Joseph Mazza's win over Democrat Gary MacElhiney in last week's election.

Mazza received 3,098 votes to MacElhiney's 2,727, a difference of 371 votes.

MacElhiney did, however, garner enough votes to land him a seat on the Board of Selectmen (BOS). Other winners to the BOS include Cynthia Cartier (R) with 3,006 votes; Charles Havrda (R) with 2,937 votes; and Veronica

Wallace (D) with 2,842 votes. Democrat Michael Sessine, with 2,591 votes, did not win a seat as a selectman.

This is also the first time that the first

selectman and Board of Selectmen will serve four-year terms.

It is also the election requiring a recount due to a misprint on the absentee ballots only. The regular ballots on election day did not have a misprint.

Absentee ballots were incorrectly printed for the Board of Education race. Instead of saying "vote for any five," they said "vote for any four." The issue of a recount came up after the election when Republican incumbent Linda Sanacora lost by 65 votes to newcomer

Christopher Moore, a Democrat.

According to Registrar of

Voters Grace Helen Quinlan, of the 247 absentee ballots, five were rejected due to errors made by voters. Of the 242 valid absentee ballots, 120 were reissued with the correct information.

Quinlan said that state statute dictates that the town must bring the same absentee vote counters back for the recount, if possible.

After a 2½ hour recount was performed on Nov. 9 under the strict guidance of officials, it was determined that it would have been mathematically impossible for Sanacora to receive more votes than Moore.

"Christopher Moore remains the winner," said Registrar of

Voters Louise Graver.

Final winners for the Board of Education remain the same:

Susan Koch Renner (R) with 3,845 votes; Keith Bishop (R) with 3,732 votes; Alan Meyers (D) with 3,634 votes; John Ireland (R) with 3,624 votes; and Christopher Moore (D) with 3,470 votes.

On the Board of Finance, winners included Kimberly Brockett (R) with 3,755 votes; David Egan (R) with 3,593 votes; Louis

Federici (D) with 3,402 votes; and Kenneth Gamerman (D) with 3,317 votes. Sandy DiLieto (R), who was running for her first time for the finance board, had the lowest votes at 3,205 and did not win a seat on the board.

For the Board of Assessment Appeals race, Henry Graver (D) ran unopposed. He won with total vote of 3,724.

There was a 37.7 percent voter turnout for the election, said Graver. There are 15,643

registered voters in town.