McAllister holds 4-vote margin, will be new Ward 7 councilman

Posted 9/20/16

Friday's recount of the Ward 7 primary race did not change the outcome, although it took the state Board of Elections three tries before the results were declared official. In the four-way contest, which has determined who will be the councilman as there

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McAllister holds 4-vote margin, will be new Ward 7 councilman

Posted

Friday’s recount of the Ward 7 primary race did not change the outcome, although it took the state Board of Elections three tries before the results were declared official.

In the four-way contest, which has determined who will be the councilman as there are no other contenders in the general election, newcomer Stephen McAllister eked out four-vote victory over the nearest contender, Charles “CJ” Donovan, who was looking to make a comeback. Donovan served the ward for 14 years and, after losing in a primary to Kathleen Usler in 2014, hoped voters would return him to the seat. The final vote for McAllister was 265 to Donovan’s 261. Also running for the Democratic nomination were Robert Germani, who garnered 131 votes, and Jack Kirby, who has run in the past as the Democratic mayoral candidate, with 135 votes.

Patty Aylesworth, Director of Elections at the Warwick Board of Canvassers, who witnessed the recount, said the count flocculated by as many as six votes, with McAllister always holding the lead, during the process that took about 90 minutes. She said at one point during the recount the machine lost power. In a second attempt there was a paper jam as ballots were fed into the machine. She said discrepancies focused on a single precinct “where the numbers didn’t match.”

By the end of the day when it was straightened out, she said, “It didn’t change the outcome.”

McAllister said the recount was stressful. He said Donovan was gracious and congratulated him when his victory was declared official.

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  • richardcorrente

    Congrats Steve.

    You worked for it! I saw you everywhere and your persistence really paid off in a well deserved victory.

    Ward seven will be well served.

    Richard Corrente

    Endorsed Democrat for Mayor

    Tuesday, September 20, 2016 Report this