4 Votes Away from Overturning LaMonica Election
By Josh Resnek
Elections don’t get much closer than the situation existing between the third and fourth place finishers in the School Committee at-Large contest.
Only 3 votes separate incumbent at-Large School Committeeman Joseph LaMonica who finished third and Margaret Cornelio, an at large candidate who finished fourth.
Cornelio has filed for a re-count.
Cornelio scored 2,494 votes as the count revealed on Election night.
LaMonica tallied 2,503.
At the time, the two were 9 votes apart.
However, further scrutiny of the vote gave Cornelio 6 more votes, bringing her total to 2,500.
“I feel good about the re-count. So many of my supporters have urged me to ask for a recount. I am waiting for the date to be set,” Cornelio told the Leader Herald.
Her application for a recount was certified by the Election Commission last week.
The Election Commission will shortly set a date for the recount and will announce exactly where it will be held – most likely somewhere inside city hall.
Cornelio will be represented by Attorney Richard Ash. Ash is associated with the law firm Baker, Braverman & Barbado of Quincy.
Cornelio has requested a re-count for all the wards except for Ward 3.
She is the only candidate who asked for a recount in the past election.
Cornelio said she and her attorney will be challenging the
votes of those they know do not live in Everett but voted here. Those votes are not legal. She said she will be paying close attention to those voters from out of town who registered five weeks ago or less.
Also, she has asked that all optically scanned ballots be hand recounted.