Pedro prevails by one vote in Portsmouth Town Council recount

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RI Board of Elections review ballots as candidates Pedro and Katzman look on.

Today's three-hour recount process at the RI Board of Elections (BoE) left the results of the Portsmouth Town Council race unchanged, as Liz Pedro (R) maintained a one-vote lead over next place finisher Len Katzman (D). At the end of the day, Pedro won by a count of 3791 to 3790 for Katzman.

"I congratulate Ms. Pedro on a good race and wish her well on the council," Katzman said in a statement sent to media late this afternoon. "I want to thank all those who voted for me, and thanks are due as well to the Portsmouth Democratic Party for their support of my candidacy. I am exceptionally pleased that Portsmouth Democrats won a controlling number of seats on the Town Council and accomplished a complete sweep of the School Committee races. Although I had hoped to serve alongside them, I am very satisfied with the overall result of the Portsmouth election. I wish all newly-elected Portsmouth officeholders the best as they take on the challenges of government for the next two years."

The recount process went smoothly, as the Portsmouth Canvassing team, led by Madeline Pencak, were assisted by BoE staffers in referring ballots through a half-dozen readers. Machines conducted most of the tally, with a handful of ballots from each district that had to be reviewed by a two-member panel of the Board of Elections. The entire process was supervised by Executive Director Robert Kando, who was was called on in at least one case to review a ballot.

Notable in the recount process were the ballots rejected for overvotes in the 4-year School Committee race, where a number of voters had marked four names.