NGX editor’s note: The vote totals below have been updated to reflect the District’s release of final numbers.
The MSAD 15 budget for FY25 passed again following a formal public recount conducted at the Gray Library on July 15. Under the recount, the budget passed by nine votes, rather than by the 11 in the towns’ initial count following the June 11 election.
In all, the July 15 recount found a total of 2,258 votes cast: 1,118 Yes; 1,109 No; and 31 blanks. There were no disputed ballots or questions of voter intent. As before, New Gloucester’s support for the budget proved determinative:
Gray:
Yes: 637
No: 667
Blank: 18
Total ballots: 1,322
New Gloucester:
Yes: 481
No: 442
Blank: 13
Total ballots: 936
Combined totals:
Yes: 1,118
No: 1,109
Blank: 31
Total ballots: 2,258
The recount was triggered by a petition from more than 200 district voters requesting a recount in light of the narrow nine-vote initial margin. Their petition was submitted to the District on June 24. Considerable behind-the-scenes work followed, culminating Monday as residents from both towns methodically sorted, counted, and checked ballots in batches of 50, with results cross-checked and tallies signed-off, all under the supervision of the towns’ election officials and Attorney Gregory Im of Portland, the District’s legal counsel.
Paralleling the process used for candidate recounts, each community was represented by six recount petition-signers and six non-signers. Balanced teams of two, four tables’ worth in all, counted the ballots. Steven Libby, Dorene Libby, George Colby, Connie Justice, Pamela Fischer and Penny Hilton participated for New Gloucester. Veteran New Gloucester ballot clerks Barbara Seaver and Nona Wills checked and confirmed the New Gloucester teams’ results; counterparts from Gray did the same for the Gray counters.
The recount started at 8 a.m. and was livestreamed on Gray’s YouTube and cable channels. It began with Attorney Im outlining the process ahead and concluded three hours later, when Gray Clerk Britt Barton announced the results. The recount also served as a School Board meeting, with seven board members on hand to certify the updated results, as required.
After the board voted and adjourned, concluding the recount, School board Chair Penny Collins expressed gratitude for “the incredible due diligence” of the towns’ election officials and the Superintendent’s Office behind the scenes. They “worked non-stop,” she said, to plan the recount in consultation with their respective attorneys and carry it out. “I’m very appreciative of their efforts,” Collins said.
With the recount, the $33 million FY25 MSAD 15 budget has traveled from approval by the School Board on a 10-1 vote in April, to approval by voters at the District’s town hall/budget validation vote in May, to the June 11 ballot referendum vote in June, and on to mid-July.
Is this the end? Before the recount meeting adjourned, Attorney Gregory Im noted that the recount results can be appealed in court, if requested. In any case, he said, the ballots would be transported by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office to the respective municipal offices for safekeeping.
— Joanne Cole
