FAIRFIELD – One of the losing Town Council candidates has called for a recount.

Donald Giroux of Ridge Road drew 1,200 votes to Councilor Richard Spear’s 1,234. The 34-vote margin gave Spear 50.6 percent of the votes cast, and Giroux 49.3 percent.

The 1.3 percent difference was slim enough for Giroux to believe he might pick up votes with a hand count. Ballots in Fairfield normally are scanned by machine.

Giroux delivered a formal request for a recount to the town office Thursday morning.

“I’ve had a lot of people approach me and ask me if I was going to have [a recount],” Giroux, a former councilor, said Thursday evening. “It made me think about it more seriously.”

Spear, while saying Giroux was within his rights to request the recount, questioned what would be gained. Giroux, he pointed out, had campaigned on a platform of lowering taxes.

“I feel that this will not change anything,” Spear said Thursday evening. “It’s ironic that someone who has made a great deal about expenses to the taxpayers is prepared to spend up to $500 of taxpayer money on something that will show no change at all.”

Candidates in Fairfield have five working days after a vote is certified to challenge an outcome. Because Town Clerk Cindy Blair did not certify the vote until Nov. 8, one day after the election, candidates had until 4:30 p.m. Thursday to request recounts.

Giroux was the only candidate to make such a request.

Town Manager Paul Blanchette said the clerk has scheduled the recount Tuesday afternoon in the Fairfield Community Center.

Candidates in town may request recounts as long as the margin between candidates is less than 2 percent.

Two other candidates in last week’s four-way race for a pair of seats are unlikely to be affected by the recount. Councilor Franklin Bouchard won re-election with 1,577 votes cast – 343 more than his closest rival.

Candidate Joseph LaBelle of New Hall Street, who finished last, had 544 votes.