UPDATE May 21, 2024: The recount of the override vote occurred as scheduled on May 21. The final tally following the hand count was Yes: 3205 and No: 3161 and Blank: 41, for a total of 6407 ballots.
Following a very close ballot vote on April 30 on Question 1, tax levy limit override, a group of Acton voters submitted a petition to the Town asking for a hand recount of Question 1 votes. In a May 13 email to the Acton Exchange, Town Manager John Mangiaratti said that the Clerk’s office had finished processing the signatures from each of the town’s eight precincts asking for a recount of Question 1. He said the schedule for the recount was being finalized and it would likely take place “early next week” [week of May 20]. He said the town would announce it soon.
The petitions were submitted by Dave Lunger, chair of the Republican Town Committee and a member of Keep Acton Affordable (KAA). He said, “Keep Acton Affordable petitioned for a recount considering that forty-five blank votes exceeded the margin of 37 votes between ‘no’ and ‘yes’. The town is very divided now, and for those of us opposed to the large increase, not even mitigated by subsequent areas for savings, and the many folks that will be financially forced to leave this fine town, a razor-thin election margin should be checked closely with a ‘fine-tooth comb’.” Lunger said that the signatures were required to be completed within ten days after the election, and members of KAA collected one hundred twenty-seven signatures across the eight precincts. Ten certified signatures were required in each precinct, and the petitions were notarized.
The four-member Acton Board of Registrars met Thursday, May 16, in Room 9 of Town Hall, “to discuss and call a recount.” At the meeting, Town Clerk Eva Szkaradek explained how an election recount works. The registrars present voted unanimously to schedule a recount for 9 am on Tuesday, May 21. (One registrar came in a few minutes after the meeting began and missed the vote.) About six or seven residents observed the meeting and asked questions.
Szkaradek said the group requesting the recount decides how the votes will be counted–by machine or by hand. The petitioners requested a hand count in this case. The results of the recount stand if different from the original results. Szkaradek said that in her thirty years working for Acton, there have been only two other recounts, both by hand.
Szkaradek distributed a document called “Election Recounts”, published by Secretary of State William Francis Galvin, which is available on the Massachusetts Secretary of State website.
“Town Counsel will be there to instruct everybody on what we will do that day,” Szkaradek said. “We have to keep quiet to hear people reading the ballot and counting the ballot.” The public may witness a recount from outside the recount area but cannot participate. Counters at multiple tables will work simultaneously. At each table there will be six people: One reads the result of the ballot while two observers watch (one from each side of the issue). One records the vote while two observers watch (one from each side of the issue).
One resident asked that Eva explain this process, step by step, on the website, so people understand.
Another resident, a father of two children in the schools who asked not to be named, cited research during the meeting, and in conversation afterward, that showed that hand counting is not as accurate as machine counting, because human beings are bad at tedious and repetitive work, especially after hours and hours, and can be influenced by bias despite their best intentions. “It upsets me that the potentially least accurate version of counting could have the final say.” That resident said he would describe the margin as “small” rather than “razor thin” and did not expect the results to change even if there were a small correction in one direction or another.
Outside, three other observers chatted in the parking lot. They said they felt the process is a good one and were glad the recount would be by hand. They spoke about marks on the ballots, and how hard it is sometimes to interpret an ink mark. “As long as both sides have representative observers,” one said. “It’s on the level.” “The chips are what they are.” “It’s fair and transparent.”
Franny Osman writes and edits for the Acton Exchange.