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Number of Contested Maine Senate Seats Grows to Four

Editor's note: The Bangor Daily News reports that Michael Carpenter withdrew his recount request. So although there were five such requests at the time this story aired, that number is now four.

AUGUSTA, Maine - Although there will be no recounts for any of the 151 seats in the Maine House, two more requests in the state Senate were filed before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline. That brings the total number of contested Senate races to five.

 

Just when Secretary of State Matt Dunlap thought he would have to staff recounts for just three state Senate districts, he received a request for a fourth - and then, a fifth. "It is going to create some challenges for us," Dunlap says, "because we'll have to have a lot of our staff devoted to the recounts."

Dunlap says his office received a recount request in Senate District 2 from Democrat Michael Carpenter, of Houlton, who lost by an unofficial 231-vote margin to Republican Michael Willette, of Presque Isle. Carpenter, a former Maine lawmaker and state attorney general, unofficially got 49.27 percent of the vote in a district where the vast majority of ballots are counted by hand. W

Within hours, Dunlap's office received a fifth Senate recount request, this one in District 13, where Republican Les Fossel, of Alna was challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Chris Johnson, of Somerville. Johnson says he believes he holds a 346-vote margin over Fossel - or 50.82 percent of all ballots cast.

"I'm pretty confident that that's not going to change the outcome of this race," Johnson says.

According to one State House source, Carpenter's decision to seek a recount was entirely his own and not necessarily supported by Democratic leaders. When Republican Senate leaders heard that Democrats were going to seek a recount in District 2, they retaliated, says the same source, by requesting another in District 13.

Johnson said there's still a chance that Carpenter's request could be withdrawn, which could trigger a similar response by Fossel. Johnson says he's prepared for either outcome.

"I'm not involved in any of that discussion or anything, so I don't know if that's the case," Johnson says. 'If it does happen, we're ready, we'll follow the right process and see what happens. And if not, then it's all the more time that people can spend getting work done instead."

Should all five recounts go forward, they could prompt reviews of races that produced wins for two Republicans and three Democrats. Unofficial election results allowed Republicans to re-take control of the Senate by claiming 20 of the body's 35 seats.

Even if Republicans lost both recounts they would still maintain the majority, although the term of presumed new Senate president Mike Thibodeau could be jeopardized. A recount has been requested in the Senate District 11 race, where the Winterport Republican holds an unofficial 105-vote lead over Democratic challenger, Jonathan Fulford, of Monroe.

The recount process is labor intensive, but Secretary of State Dunlap says five requests in a state election with 60 percent turnout is not actually all that many.