John J. Beltrandi III
WESTFIELD – At-large City Council Candidate John J. Beltrandi III, who initially lost the seventh and last seat in Nov. 3, 2015 General Election by just three ballots to Steve Dondley, has submitted petitions from each of the six city wards for a recount.
The Board of Registrars had examined “provisional ballots” on Friday, Nov. 6 and awarded four additional ballots to Dondley increasing his lead over Beltrandi by seven votes.
Beltrandi filed the recount petitions with City Clerk Karen Fanion late last week and the recount is slated to be done on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the South Middle School Cafeteria.
Beltrandi said this morning that he “just thinks the recount is available to me. I want to let it run its course.”
Steve Dondley
Beltrandi said there were “some discrepancies in Ward 5, that’s were (Dondley) picked up the additional four votes. I was also told there were problems with the markers in Ward 4 where the marks were so light that the ballots may not have been counted properly.”
Acting Mayor Brian Sullivan, who is also the mayor-elect, asked the School Committee and department officials Monday night to assist the Board of Registrars and City Clerk Karen Fanion with the logistics of the recount.
“I would like to reach out to the schools so see if any of the clubs or students would like to volunteer in this process,” Sullivan said this morning. “We have no money in the budget for a city-wide recount, so I think we can do it with volunteer help under the direction of City Clerk Karen Fanion and the Board of Registrars.
“It will be a big process since it’s a city-wide recount which is why we need the cafeteria at the South Middle School. We need a lot of space,” Sullivan said. “I want to give John due process without feeling he’s costing the city money.”
“Seven votes in an At-large race where nearly 8,000 ballots were cast are very close,” Sullivan said. “A difference of one or two ballots in each ward could affect the outcome.”
Beltrandi served two terms on the City Council as an At-large member while Dondley finished in the eighth spot in the election two years ago coming in 83 votes behind David A. Flaherty who won the seventh and last At-large seat in the election.
