WESTBROOK — After losing in the tightest election in the city in recent memory, incumbent School Committee Chairman Jim Violette has requested a recount.

Violette lost his reelection bid for his Ward 5 seat to former school teacher and administrator Elizabeth Schultz by a mere two votes, 881-879. There were 247 ballots that were recorded as blank.

The recount is set for Monday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m. at the Public Safety Building on Saco Street.

City Clerk Angela Holmes said each of the ballots cast in the Ward 5 race will be hand counted by three pairs of counters provided by the candidates. 

“It’s two votes,” Violette said Monday as to why he is seeking a recount. “There were 879 people who went out of their way to support me and not asking for a recount would be letting those voters down.”

He said if Schultz’s margin of victory had been just a little bit greater, he would have conceded, but “two votes is too close a call to not ask for a recount.”

Violette said it is possible that he could get two or three votes to swing in his favor, but since the chances are “slim” he is not getting his hopes up.

Violette has been involved in recounts as a ballot counter, but this is his first as a candidate.

Holmes said if there is a difference in the official Election Day result and the recount result it will be because of “a reassignment of the votes counted as blank.” The machines, she said are programmed to look for marks in the ovals by the candidates’ names. Any deviation from that is rejected and counted as blank, so ballots that had a candidate’s name circled, more than one oval accidentally filled in or had other stray marks were not counted in the official tally.

“We as humans can understand voter intent even though the machine is not programmed to,” Holmes said. “If there is a difference that is where I anticipate  we will find it.”

“I understand his rationale for wanting a recount, but it takes the wind out of my sails a little bit,” Schultz said Monday. “It is another week that I have to wait. I don’t know if I can move forward and that’s been challenging.”

Violette said Schultz worked hard on her campaign, but the teachers’ union endorsing her over him impacted the outcome of the election.

“I have to give her credit for pounding the pavement and working really hard, but I think the weight of the (Westbrook Education Association) endorsement and support swayed the election,” Violette said.

Schultz said that wasn’t the case.

“From the people I talked to, the WEA (endorsement) did not affect them. They were looking at other things. They were looking at my experience, They were not involved with that and that controversy. They were looking at other things,” she said.

Even though the school committee positions are non-partisan, Schultz said what did hurt her campaign was not getting the endorsement of the Ward 5 Democrats at the Democratic caucus in September.

“Not having that endorsement made it a little more difficult,” she said.

Whether they ultimately win or lose, both Violette and Schultz thanked their supporters.

“I want to say thank you to all the people who supported me. It was a great turnout and that’s what you hope for,” said Violette, a School Committee member since 2010.

Schultz, who was making her first foray into politics by running for the Ward 5 seat, said she appreciated all the support she got.

“It was really a pleasure to meet so many people when I was canvassing. I heard a lot of stories and people’s hopes for the future. I was impressed by the questions people asked. At least the people I talked to seemed to take the race seriously,” she said.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 780-9106 or [email protected] or on Twitter @mkelleynews.

Elizabeth Schultz congratulates Jim Violette after he won the Democratic nomination in September to run for the Ward 5 school committee seat. Schultz also ran for the seat and beat Violette by two votes. A recount is set for Monday.