Jay Benanto, Art Gerckens and Ron Sill were reconfirmed as winners of the Second Ward Board of Aldermen race after a recount Tuesday morning in Derby City Hall.
The vote count was slightly different from the official results on election night, with Benanto and Gerckens each losing one vote during the recount.
The new results, including absentee ballots, are as follows:
- Ron Sill, Democrat: 497 votes
- Jay Benanto, Republican: 411 votes
- Arthur Gerckens, an independent who ran on the Democratic line: 397 votes
Joseph DiMartino, the Republican incumbent who requested the recount, again finished fourth after the recount, with 393 votes.
Gerckens said the results show that every single vote counts.
“I have the utmost respect for Joe DiMartino and his family. Joe is a class act, and I wish him all the best,” Gerckens said.
Prior to the Nov. 8 election, Democrats had just two seats on the Derby Board of Aldermen. The Democrats now have four seats — five if you count the independent Gerckens as aligned with the Democratic Party.
The number of Republicans on the Board of Aldermen dropped from seven to four.
The recount Tuesday was run by Louise Pitney, the Democratic Registrar of Voters, with Ernestine Gaudio, the Republican Registrar.
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Seven poll workers examined ballots and ran them through a voting machine. The recount took just over two hours.
Corporation Counsel Joseph Coppola was in the audience, as was Republican tax board member/Mayor Tony Staffieri’s campaign manager Judy Szewczyk, Democrat Ron Sill and resident Harvey Finkel.
In the Aldermen race, residents could vote for up to three candidates. However, the recount showed 175 ‘blank’ votes, meaning a person either didn’t vote for anyone or didn’t choose the maximum number of candidates.
There were also five write-in votes.
Among the write-in losers — Harry Potter, along with Donald Duck’s nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
