Recount Changes Outcome Of 1 Race in 2019 Westport Election

WESTPORT, CT — The Representative Town Meeting members elected last week to represent District 3 changed over the weekend following a recount of absentee ballots by Westport election officials.

Incumbent RTM District 3 member Arline Gertzoff retained her position on the legislative body following the Saturday recount, edging out Ross Burkhardt for the seat.

After last Tuesday's election, Gertzoff trailed Burkhardt by one vote, but following the recount, she ended up beating Burkhardt 299 to 296. She joins Jimmy Izzo, Amy Kaplan and Mark Friedman to represent District 3.

The recount was conducted not by the closeness of that and another race, but because due to the late withdrawal of a candidate, an "unusually high number of absentee ballots that had to be hand counted" instead of machine counted, according to Democratic Registrar of Voters Marla Cowden. The hand count was necessary because about 150 absentee ballots had been mailed with the withdrawn name.

While the race for the third Board of Education seat was relatively close, the recount confirmed that Repubublican Vik Muktavaram retained his post over fellow Republican Liz Heyer. Democrats Youn Su Chao and Lee Goldstein also were elected to the board.