LAWRENCE — With the city mired in a financial crisis, yesterday's recounts of two close City Council election races struck the victorious candidates as wasteful spending that didn't make much of a difference.
"It costs at least $15,000 — and that's a very unnecessary cost when the city is facing a tough budget challenge," said City Councilor Grisel Silva, whose Nov. 3 victory over challenger Ruth Rojas to keep her District B North Common seat remained unchanged following yesterday's recount.
Silva lost three votes in the recount, but still prevailed over Rojas, 930-912. The recount didn't change the vote total for Rojas.
"For me, it's a little bothersome that this money has to be spent," said Sandy Almonte, whose margin of victory over Joseph Armano increased by one, to 11 votes.
Almonte topped Armano 858-847 for the District A Prospect Hill seat after the ballots were recounted yesterday. Almonte picked up five additional votes, while Armano picked up four.
The new council takes office on Jan. 4.
City elections staff, the four candidates, some of their supporters and monitors from the campaigns spent more than five hours yesterday in City Council Chambers at City Hall as the ballots cast in Nov. 3 election were rechecked.
Clerks manually counted each ballot, looking for any that were incorrectly marked.
"Of course, I'm very happy with the outcome," Silva said. "It's unfortunate that this money had to be spent. This is the second time that my opponent asked for a recount. It didn't change a thing, but it's her constitutional right."
"It's certainly his right to challenge the vote," Almonte said of Armano. "This is something that creates extra work and additional costs for the city, but it's part of the democratic process."
Still, it was an exciting day for Almonte, who now gets to savor her election win.
"I'm happy this part is over and I can turn my attention to the problems of the city," she said. "I'm going to put my heart into it."
Armano and Rojas could not be reached for comment last night.
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