AUGUSTA, Maine - The special seven-member state Senate committee reviewing the District 25 election results spent the entire morning hearing about ballot counting and recounting procedures from Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn.
Flynn, who oversees the Elections Division, was asked about the apparent 21-vote discrepancy between election night tallies of 171 votes and the recount of votes cast on Long Island that had 192 ballots.
"I think for this small number of votes it's a lot of error," Flynn says. "And, you know, what I say in this business is we strive for perfection but we settle for human error - and that is a lot of human error."
The two candidates are Republican Cathy Manchester and Democrat Cathy Breen. As many as 30 witnesses may be called to testify, including all of the election clerks involved in the counting of ballots on Long Island.
The panel had hoped to finish its work today, but that possibility is growing less likely.
