Aldermen, Board of

A special meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Monday, November 21, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber for the purpose of conducting recounts of the ballots cast for Ward 5 and Ward 7 Alderman at the November 8, 2011 municipal general election. Vice President Ben Clemons presided; City Clerk Paul Bergeron recorded. Prayer was offered by City Clerk Paul Bergeron, Alderman Sheehan leading in the Pledge to the Flag. The roll call was taken with 10 members of the Board of Aldermen present; Melizzi-Golja ware recorded absent. Aldermen Cookson and Vitale arrived after the roll was taken. Acting Mayor Brian S. McCarthy and Corporation Counsel James M. McNamee were also in attendance: Also in attendance were: Candidate Michelle M. Spears and representatives Candidate June M. Caron and representatives Candidate Michael Gallagher and representatives Members of the press and public COMMUNICATIONS MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS BE READ BY TITLE ONLY MOTION CARRIED From: Paul R. Bergeron, City Clerk Re: Proposed Rules of Procedure Relative to Recounts MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND THAT THE PROPOSED RULES OF PROCEDURE RELATIVE TO THE RECOUNT SUBMITTED BY THE CITY CLERK BE ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN FOR THIS EVENING’S RECOUNT PROCEEDINGS MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons The order of business tonight is the recount of the election for Ward 5 and Ward 7 Alderman. In accordance with the City Charter and the rules already adopted, I will ask the Acting Mayor to open the sealed ballot boxes and the City Clerk will supervise the recount. This board will be in recess and will reconvene to make a ruling if necessary on any challenged ballots. The Board recessed at 6:33 p.m. Brian S. McCarthy, Acting Mayor, opened the sealed ballot boxes from Ward 5 and Ward 7 in accordance with Sec. 26 of the City Charter. The election night returns from Ward 5 and Ward 7 were examined. The Board of Aldermen reconvened at 8:45 p.m. Vice-President Clemons At this point, I understand that Michelle Spears has called off the recount, and does not want to contest any of the Ward 7 ballots. I would ask the Clerk to please announce the election results for Ward 7. City Clerk Paul Bergeron The election night results stand since the recount was withdrawn before its conclusion; therefore June M. Caron of 24 Montgomery Avenue received 398 votes to Michelle M. Spears of 18 Harbor Avenue, 388 votes. June Caron being the winner with the most votes received in that election. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 2 MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT THE RESULTS RECORDED ON THE CITY CLERK’S RECORD OF RETURNS FOR THE WARD 7 ALDERMANIC RACE AT THE MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 8, 2011 BE DECLARED FINAL AND CONCLUSIVE, AND THAT JUNE M. CARON, HAVING RECEIVED THE LARGEST NUMBER OF VOTES CAST FOR THE OFFICE BE DECLARED ELECTED BY VOICE VOTE FOR THE ENSUING TERM ON THE QUESTION Alderman Cookson Since the roll call was taken at the beginning of the meeting I know a few Aldermen have arrived. Vice-President Clemons I would note the arrival of Aldermen Cookson and Vitale. MOTION CARRIED Oath of Office administered Ward 5 Protested Ballots Vice-President Clemons Would the Clerk please announce the results of the recount? City Clerk Paul Bergeron The results of the recount this evening give Michael J. Tabacsko of 5 Federal Hill Road 455 votes and Michael Gallagher of 9 Old Coach Road 450 votes. There are 6 ballots that have been challenged, copies of which are on the desks of all of the Aldermen and they have been lettered A through E, which would need the Board’s determination for how those votes should be cast. Vice-President Clemons Mr. Gallagher I assume you would like to go forward with the challenge? Michael Gallagher Yes, please. Vice-President Clemons In that case, what we will do is go through each ballot individuals. They are all, if you look through them, lettered A through F, and we will start with ballot A. Alderman Cox A through F? City Clerk Paul Bergeron Yes I said A through E, but it is A through F. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 3 Alderman Cox Thank you. Vice President Clemons I will have the City Clerk go through each ballot and then we can have a discussion on them one by one, and will decide each one as we go through. We will start with A. City Clerk Paul Bergeron The options before the Board would generally be whether it is a vote for Mr. Tabacsko or for Mr. Gallagher or a no vote. In the case of challenged ballot A, the voter cast two votes where the instructions are that you vote for not more than one. Circles have been filled in for Michael Gallagher and a write-in of Vicki Meager. Alderman Deane Who wrote void on it? City Clerk Paul Bergeron Normally that would be the Moderator or an election official. I can’t explain why this particular one was written void. The Moderators and inspection officials are instructed to put voided ballots into a separate envelope so that they are segregated from the rest of the ballots, but it appears that this one was voided out by someone and then mixed in with the regular ballots so it would have been processed right through the recount like all other ballots would have been. Alderman Deane What would the machine do with two of the ovals filled in? City Clerk Paul Bergeron It would recognize that as an over-vote and not count it. Alderman Deane So this went through the machine and wasn’t counted for a vote to begin with is what you are saying? City Clerk Paul Bergeron That is how I would interpret it yes. Alderman Deane Thank you. Vice-President Clemons Is there any further discussion on this ballot? MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT PROTESTED BALLOT A BE DEEMED A NO VOTE MOTION CARRIED Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 4 Vice President Clemons declared protested ballot A, a NO VOTE. Vice-President Clemons We will move to ballot B. City Clerk Bergeron In this ballot the voter instead of filling in the circle next to the names of the printed candidates wrote in a name and filled in that circle. It would have been counted as a write-in vote. MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT PROTESTED BALLOT B BE DEEMED A VOTE FOR MICHAEL J. TABACSKO MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons declared protested ballot B a VOTE FOR MICHAEL J. TABACSKO Vice-President Clemons Moving on to ballot C. City Clerk Paul Bergeron Ballot C it appears that the voter chose to put Xs in the circles instead of coloring in the circles. MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT PROTESTED BALLOT C BE DEEMED A VOTE FOR MICHAEL GALLAGHER ON THE QUESTION Alderman Cox Could the City Clerk explain has something like this happened before, and do you remember how it was considered seeing it is pretty clear on the instructions? City Clerk Paul Bergeron The Moderators and election officials when they are looking at a ballot have to determine what the intent of the voter is in making their decisions, and if this were to have been hand counted they would have probably assumed that the voter intended to vote for the candidates that they put Xs into the circles. The machine would have scanned this however. Any mark put inside a circle will be picked up by the machine. I might add that we had a special election going the same, which did require them to put Xs in the squares for the special Board of Education. Vice President Clemons Is there any further discussion? The motion is to award ballot C to Michael Gallagher. MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons declared protested ballot C a VOTE FOR MICHAEL GALLAGHER. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 5 Vice President Clemons Moving to ballot D. Looks like it is a similar case as the last one. Is there a motion? MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT PROTESTED BALLOT D BE DEEMED A VOTE FOR MICHAEL GALLAGHER MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons declared protested ballot D a VOTE FOR MICHAEL GALLAGHER. Vice President Clemons Moving on to ballot E. City Clerk Paul Bergeron Ballot E was an absentee ballot that was not counted. If you look at the envelope that it was returned in, the Moderator wrote that the signatures don’t match. By that she means that the signature on the request for the absentee ballot, according to the election official, is different from the signature that appears on the Affidavit envelope. Therefore, we don’t know at this point who the vote was cast for because I didn’t allow that envelope to be opened. It is up to the Board to determine whether or not to go ahead and open that ballot. Alderman Chasse It says the signatures don’t match, but if you look at the application and it says I am unable to vote in person due to disability. Now perhaps this individual had a bad day health wise and that is why the signatures don’t match, but if you look at the Es, the Es in the first name are kind of consistent. The rest of it, like I say we don’t know what his disability is. That is my opinion. Alderman Deane It almost looks like on the face cover where they fill it out that almost looks like it was done with a stamp. I tend to agree with Alderman Chasse, the names look the same. It just looks like the one on the application cover and the one on the state portion of it under Form O, it seems like one was done with a stamp and one was done with a pen. I think we should allow for taking a look at the ballot that was cast. Alderman Cox I disagree fully. The signature on the application is a very clear and well done signature. It is definitely not a stamp. Then on the next two not only are they very different, they are totally different. One seems to indicate senior and one doesn’t, and it is not in the front. I don’t know why you would throw a senior on one and not the…even if you were having a bad day you would put senior on both and not just one. But they indicated…I don’t even want to try to pronounce it off that, with definitely the Sr. or S something and it is not on the first one. The first one is obviously you can see the way everything is printed clearly and then signature clear and then not clear at all on the next two. Alderman Sheehan I will add to that that there is a place on the application to circle senior if you are a senior, and it is not circled. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 6 MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE TO ALLOW FOR THE REVIEW AND THE COUNT OF THE BALLOT ATTACHED TO THE APPLICATION ON THE QUESTION Vice President Clemons The motion is to unseal the ballot and to allow the ballot to be counted. Is that correct Alderman Deane? Alderman Deane Yes it is. Vice President Clemons Is there any further discussion on that motion? Alderman Wilshire On the application, where the applicant’s name is printed, it doesn’t even look like what is on the signature. It looks like there is a middle initial maybe on the signature page, but there isn’t one on the applicant, there is no middle initial there. I don’t see any clear reason to allow this. It doesn’t seem to match up to me either. Vice President Clemons Is there any further discussion? Alderman Cox Just to take it a step further, Alderman Wilshire is absolutely right. You see Cuipa as opposed to Sl. It is clearly Sl so there is no valid reason to open this up and count it. Thank you. Vice President Clemons Is there any further discussion? The motion before us is to allow this ballot to be counted or at least to be opened so that we can see and then determine the vote. That is the motion to unseal this ballot. A Viva Voce Roll Call was requested, which resulted as follows: Yea: Alderman Vitale, Alderman Craffey, Alderman Deane, Alderman Pressly, Alderman Dowd, Alderman Chasse, Alderman Cookson 7 Nay: Alderman Cox, Alderman Sheehan, Alderman Wilshire, Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons 5 MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons We will need to open the ballot and make copies for every Alderman. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 7 Alderman Chasse Could we take up… Vice President Clemons While we are making copies, we will move to ballot F and then we will go back to ballot E to make a determination on that ballot. MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT PROTESTED BALLOT F BE DEEMED A NO VOTE AS BOTH CANDIDATES WERE VOTED FOR MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons declared protested ballot F a NO VOTE Vice President Clemons Does everybody have a copy in front of them? MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE THAT PROTESTED BALLOT E BE DEEMED A VOTE FOR MICHAEL GALLAGHER ON THE QUESTION Alderman Cox Just to reiterate the point that the signatures are very different and should not be counted. Alderman Deane We’re voting on … Vice President Clemons Yes, the motion is to award ballot E to Michael Gallagher. Alderman Deane To me it looks as though the voter’s intent by scribbling into the little oval next to Michael Gallagher’s name. Okay. Thank you. Vice President Clemons Is there any further discussion? MOTION CARRIED Vice President Clemons declared protested ballot E a VOTE FOR MICHAEL GALLAGHER. Based on the decisions of the Board of Aldermen, the Clerk stated the results for the Ward 5 Aldermanic race in the November 8, 2011 municipal general election are as follows: Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 8 Ward 5 Alderman Michael J. Tabacsko 456 Michael Gallagher 453 MOTION BY ALDERMAN DEANE THAT THE RESULTS RECORDED ON THE CITY CLERK’S RECORD OF RETURNS FOR THE WARD 5 ALDERMANIC RACE AT THE MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 8, 2011 BE DECLARED FINAL AND CONCLUSIVE, AND THAT MICHAEL J. TABACSKO HAVING RECEIVED THE LARGEST NUMBER OF VOTES CAST FOR THE OFFICE BE DECLARED ELECTED BY VOICE VOTE FOR THE ENSUING TERM MOTION CARRIED GENERAL DISCUSSION Alderman Chasse Kudos to all of the people who worked on the recount tonight. There were quite a few people involved. Thanks for your support in getting this done. Alderman Deane I agree. Thank you for bringing that up. Vice President Clemons Any further discussion? I’m going to allow a little bit of leeway and allow Mr. Gallagher to address us. Michael Gallagher, 9 Old Coach Road Thank you very much for your leniency. My congratulations to Alderman Tabacsko for serving another term. I appreciate the time that all of the ward representatives spent tonight. I know it is kind of a painful process. We’re unfortunately getting used to it. It was the right thing to do. We have a clear winner. I would just like to, for a point of clarification, on ballot B, we spent so much time and attention on ballot E with spelling, clearly the ballot cast in the write-in was not for Mike Tabacsko. Spelling is different. I would have just liked to have seen that go a little bit differently. It does not change the outcome whatsoever. Alderman Tabacsko has clearly won. Thank you very much. Vice President Clemons Thank you. Is there any further discussion this evening? Alderman Chasse Just a quick question; do we have to turn these into you? City Clerk Paul Bergeron I would like that particularly since there is some absentee ballot information there. Thank you. Spec. Bd. of Aldermen – 11/21/11 Page 9 ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN WILSHIRE THAT THE NOVEMBER 21, 2011 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED MOTION CARRIED The meeting was declared adjourned at 9:12 p.m. Attest: Paul R. Bergeron, City Clerk