Politics & Government
Beverly Elections 2017: A Recount Is Possible
Anyone who wants to ask for a recount has til Friday, Nov. 17 to do so.
BEVERLY, MA — By most accounts it was expected to be a rather quiet election. But now that the dust has settled, it looks like it was a little more heated than some expected. One of the At-Large City Council candidates may have won a seat by 11 votes. The question is, will there be a recount?
"We're still working on the results of Tuesday's election, and awaiting word from any candidate who requests a recount," said Beverly City Clerk Wes Slate in an email. Any challenges to the tally have to come in by next Friday, Nov. 17.
Paul Guanci secured the most votes, a snug 822 vote lead ahead of anyone else and landed the title of Council President, Julie Flowers, was a clear second place winner more than 200 votes of any one else. But then came Timothy Flaherty and Matthew St. Hilaire. Early results showed them 10 votes a part. Slate said today it was an 11 vote difference. Both of them more than 1,600 votes ahead of Esther Ngotho and Brian D’Apice who were also hoping to win seats on the council.
Find out what's happening in Beverlyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Other than that, the turnout was better than the city clerk had predicted, he said at 23.3 percent of the 27,739 registered voters exersized their right to vote.
Contrary to rumors of broken machines, said Slate, no machines broke.
Find out what's happening in Beverlyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"We used new ImageCast tabulators for the first time, and two of them could not be 'closed out' at the precincts and had to be brought back here to have that done," he said in an email to Patch.
"And 10 of the 12 precincts did fine, the other two we took care of here when the BPD & Wardens returned the ballots & voting machines to us. Other than that CLOSE race (11 votes), it was a good day, even sunny though cold," said Slate.
Who are the two vying?
Flaherty is a Beverly native and graduate of Beverly High School and has served on the City Council for a dozen years and even challenged the former mayor in 2011. He's also the executive director for the Cape Ann YMCA in Gloucester.
St. Hilaire, also a Beverly native, has served two terms on the council and is director of personnel for Gov. Charlie Baker's office.
Previously on Patch: Beverly Elections: Who won?
Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch
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