Yarmouth will conduct a manual ballot recount of the Nov. 6 townwide vote to establish a rental housing advisory committee and require landlords to give tenants 75 days’ notice of rent increases.

Town Clerk Jenn Doten said the recount will begin at 9 a.m. Dec. 10 in the Town Hall Community Room. If necessary, the recount will continue Dec. 11 and 12.

The Rental Dwelling Ordinance narrowly passed Nov. 6 by 33 votes, 2,423 to 2,390.

Resident Craig Martin said he and others collected 160 signatures calling for a recount and submitted them to the clerk’s office Nov. 16. The town requires 100 signatures.

Martin said he had help collecting signatures from members of a group called No On 4, which campaigned against the proposed ordinance. Martin said he and other petition-signers want the votes verified by people, not machines.

Town Manager Nat Tupper last week said he thought the town might find marks on ballots that could change the vote count, but doesn’t think it will amount to 33 votes or change the overall outcome.

According to the town, there were 569 ballots not counted because of an unclear marking or because they were left blank for the question. The question was printed on the back of a ballot sheet, and the percentage of blanks was higher for questions on the back of ballots sheet than for questions on the front.

“A manual recount will verify that all local ballot scanners were accurately tabulating the back of the ballots,” Martin said.

Tupper said there were many measures in place to assure that questions left blank were done so intentionally, including voters being told the ballot sheets were two-sided.

In July, a petition drafted by Councilor April Humphrey with input from members of the Yarmouth Tenants’ Association was submitted in support of the Rental Dwelling Ordinance, which proposed establishing the Rental Housing Advisory Committee and requiring the 75-day notice for rent increases. Most councilors opposed the proposal, or aspects of it, when they voted Sept. 5 to send it to voters.

Jocelyn Van Saun can be contacted at 781-3661, ext. 183, or at:

jvansaun@theforecaster.net

Twitter: @JocelynVanSaun.

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