WESTFIELD – Ward 1 challenger Mary Ann Babinski, who lost to incumbent Christopher Keefe by just 11 votes, said Wednesday that she is considering filing a petition for a recount of the ballots.
The election saw a substantial turnout in Ward 1 where 1,692 registered voters cast ballots. Babinski received 766 of those votes, while Keefe received 777, a mere .0065 percent separating the two candidates.
Babinski took her home precinct, Precinct A, receiving 451 of the ballots cast to Keefe’s 357, a difference of 94 votes.
Keefe made up for that number in his home precinct, Precinct B, where he received 420 votes to Babinski’s 315 ballots, a difference of 105 votes, giving him the victory by 11 votes.
City Clerk Karen Fanion said the city has no provision for an automatic recount and that Babinski has 10 days to file a petition. Babinski will be required to submit the valid signatures of 10 registered Ward 1 voters.
“In other communities a difference of less than a half percent triggers an automatic recount,” Babinski said. “That is not the case in Westfield.”
“I’m considering it as an option,” Babinski said. “I’m contemplating a recount petition because of all the hard work my supporters have done over the past several months, so I think a valid response would be to petition for the recount.”
“Right now I’m getting information, but I will probably go forward with it,” Babinski said.
Keefe said that Babinski’s showing in his home precinct, 315 votes, is probably an indication that residents of Pochassic Street are dissatisfied with progress of several issues, including the six years that it has taken for reconstruction of the Prospect Street Bridge and the lack of improvements to the intersection of Montgomery, Prospect and Crown streets.
“When people walk into the voting booth they have a chance to say something with their vote, to get a message out,” Keefe said.
Keefe has submitted a motion to install stop signs at the Montgomery, Prospect and Crown streets intersection.
“That motion went to the Traffic Commission which is very deliberate, as they should be, when considering these types of requests. It does take time,” Keefe said. “And the (Prospect Street) bridge is a state project, but residents can’t take it out on the state, so the local officials get that resident dissatisfaction.”
Keefe was involved in a similar recount when his father-in-law, Jack Tierney, petitioned a recount after losing a council race in 1986 by 29 votes.
“It’s the same machines and they are hyper accurate,” Keefe said. “I think he lost one vote in the recount. There may be some ballots where people made a check or an X instead of filling the circle, but I don’t think they are any lost ballots because the counts (people checking in and out) are right.”
