PITTSFIELD — A recount Wednesday confirmed that Heather Donahue was the winner of a municipal race for an at-large seat on the Town Council.
The recount showed that Donahue actually increased her advantage over incumbent Lindsay Holmstrom by two votes.
The recount did not change the placement of any of the three candidates for the seat: Donahue, Holmstrom and Eric Glencross. The recount found 586 votes for Donahue while the other two candidates had the same results as originally found: Holmstrom with 577 and Glencross with 312.
Holmstrom requested the recount earlier this month after results showed her behind Donahue by seven votes. There was some delay in scheduling the recount because of holidays, Town Clerk Nicole Nikolan said earlier.
Candidates and municipal staff gathered in the basement of the Town Office on Wednesday to retally more than 1,600 ballots by hand. In addition to Nikolan, who oversaw the proceedings, there were eight counters and four assistants.
The group first divided the ballots into lots of 50, with each lot being counted by two people. Then each lot was given to another pair of counters, who each had to look at the ballot and agree for whom it was marked.
The recount began at 3:30 p.m. and lasted several hours until Nikolan could confirm Donahue’s victory.
Donahue said Thursday that she was impressed by the professionalism of the election staff and the process went as “smoothly as it could have.” Holmstrom could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Donahue served on the Town Council for several years before being defeated last year by Eric Saucier. After state Rep. Amanda Collamore stepped down from an at-large seat last December, Donahue ran in the April special election for the seat but was defeated by Holmstrom.
Donahue said that once she takes her seat in January, she hopes to bring focus back to several projects that were set in motion by past councils but seem to have fallen by the wayside in the last year, such as efforts to digitize town documents, which has been supported by the council but not funded.
She also said that she hopes to help the council better plan for matters like the upcoming project with state agencies for work downtown. She said she wants to work on how the council will communicate traffic changes and work schedules to the public ahead of the start of the project.
Holmstrom currently holds the seat and has served as an at-large councilor for six months. Ahead of the election, she said she has enjoyed her time on the council and feels she had gained momentum to help modernize town operations and steer infrastructure improvements.
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