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No Recount on Ballot Question 10 (Casino Money)

The final results aside, this election season has been an exciting one for Tiverton, with a few close races.  That has left some results in the air as election officials counted mail ballots… then reviewed provisional ballots… then counted those ballots.  This process left Robert Coulter just 17 votes ahead of Stephen Clarke for the final seat on the Town Council (although both were on the TTA slate).  It also left question 10 “rejected” by just 13 votes over “approve.”

Question 10 would have given the town council authority over casino gambling revenue (a minimum of $3 million by state law) and limited its use to expenditures labeled as debt, capital, or infrastructure.  With such a close outcome, somebody filed for a recount.  However, state regulations for ballot question recounts require that the person or group requesting them must have spent over $5,000 advocating for or against the question (for votes the size of Tiverton’s) or have registered as a group with multiple people prior to the election.

According to Providence Journal reporter Patrick Anderson who attended a Board of Elections meeting this afternoon, the person requesting a recount:

Did not qualify due to lack of standing.

Board was reluctant about it, but said its regs require someone to have spent money or group to register as interested party to get a recount

Next up should be the final certification of the Tiverton Board of Canvassers of all results on Monday, which should be a straightforward exercise, but the way things have been going, we’ll see.

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Justin Katz

Justin Katz is a writer and researcher focusing on Rhode Island policy and politics. For more about Justin, see our About page. justin@justinkatz.com (401) 835-7156.

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