State receives 7 House recount requests

AUGUSTA – Recount requests began to trickle in Thursday to the Maine Secretary of State’s Office in the aftermath of Tuesday’s balloting.

Deputy Secretary of State Doug Dunbar said seven House recount requests had been received by late afternoon, and a number of calls from other interested parties also signaled the potential for additional ballot reviews.

In instances where margins are 1 percent or less, the Maine State Police automatically collect the ballots for a potential recount. The state will cover the expense for recounting such close races, but the candidate must request a recount before one will be conducted. The deadline for losing candidates to request one in their respective districts is 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Official recount requests were made Thursday in District 41, where Kenneth Lindell, R-Frankfort, appeared to have defeated Kent Price, D-Orland, 2,489 to 2,458; District 42, where incumbent Rep. Jeffrey Kaelin, R-Winterport, appeared to have defeated Winterport Democrat Joseph Brooks by six votes; and District 43, where Jayne Giles, R-Belfast, appeared to have defeated Walter Ash Jr., D-Belfast, 2,572 to 2,559.

Brooks said Thursday it was “highly coincidental” that 1 percent margins of victory would be racked up in three adjacent House districts and that the potential for ballot irregularities couldn’t be ignored.

“All three of us feel that we owe it to the people that voted for us to ensure that the ballots were counted accurately,” he said.

A recount request also was filed for District 49 in the Union-Warren area, where unofficial results have Republican Wesley E. Richardson, with 2,410 votes, winning over Democrat Jeffrey P. Evangelos with 2,284.

In addition, requests for recounts have been made for District 67 in the Bowdoin-Richmond area; District 113 which represents part of Falmouth and part of Portland; and District 139 in the Waterboro area.

House Clerk Millicent MacFarland indicated unofficial tallies seemed to suggest that the 122nd Legislature will consist of 76 Democrats, 71 Republicans, 1 Green Independent Party member and 1 unenrolled member. Two additional seats were too close to call, she said.

Dunbar said a recount also has been requested in a Somerset County commissioner’s race, in which incumbent Zane Libby defeated challenger Phil Roy by only five votes for the District 2 seat, according to unofficial results.

Recounts could begin as early as next Wednesday.