Vote Recount: Santos Gains 104 Votes; Overall Results Stick

A recanvass of votes cast during Tuesday's muncipal election was held Friday morning at Town Hall to determine exactly who will officially sit in which public seat.

The recount was deemed automatic as two close races for republican seats left the elections' final results in question.

As of Tuesday night, republican incumbent Ron Eleveld sat just 4 votes behind republican newcomer Lisa Boccia, becoming the low vote-getter and relinquishing his council seat, which he held since 2007. 

Following Tuesday's recount, Boccia's total increased by one votes, while Eleveld's dropped by one.

Similarly, republican Kristin Ingram, who was appointed to the board of education to fill the seat vacated by former board member David Gay in September, remained the low vote-getter on the board of education following the recanvass.

Prior to Friday's recount, Ingram was behind Patricia DiGiore (R) by 14 votes. That gap widened Friday; DiGiore gained 13 votes while Ingram gained three.

While Friday's recount did not change the election's outcome, it did raise eyebrows as ballots that were deemed questionable dramatically changed vote totals for some candidates, particularly Cristina Santos.

The republican incumbent was reported to have received at total of 1,633 votes in Tuesday's board of education race, including just 84 at the Rainbow Firehouse polling location.

After a recount, it was determined that Santos actually received 185 votes from the Rainbow polling place.

The error was caused by the computer when tallies were put in the town's tabulation chart, according to the registrar of voters.

The rest of the votes that were found to be incorrect, according to Registrar of Voters Karen Andrews, were due to errors on the part of voters.

The ballots used by Windsor require voters to completely fill in the oval next to a candidates name; however, Andrews said Wednesday, voters may choose to circle the oval, draw an "x" through the oval, or choose another method of candidate selection that will not be properly read by ballot tabulation machines.

During Friday's recanvass, voluneers combed ballots, determining that 4,500 ballots were "questionable."

2,143 of those questionable ballots were from District 4, 330 Windsor Avenue.

The following chart represents the vote tally differential for each candidate prior to and after Friday's recount: