Perotti wins in recount

SHARON — A recount of the ballots for two candidates for selectman was conducted at Town Hall on Sunday, Nov. 13. Candidate John Perotti was declared the winner, with 347 votes. Candidate Howard Randall did not win a seat. He had 343 votes.The municipal election was held last Tuesday, Nov. 8. The vote totals (which were declared to be 347 and 343 that day) were close enough that state law required a recount.In Connecticut, all boards and commissions are required to have representation for both major political parties. There was only one candidate for the Board of Selectmen who is a Democrat (incumbent Meg Szalewicz); so she was assured a seat on the board, regardless of the actual vote totals. Sharon is one of the only towns in the state where voters choose their first selectman independently of the rest of the board. In most towns, if a candidate for selectman has more votes than the candidate for first selectman, he or she can take that top spot on the board. In Sharon, regardless of vote totals, if a candidate runs unopposed for first selectman, he or she is guaranteed a seat. In the Nov. 8 election, incumbent First Selectman Robert Loucks, a Republican, ran unopposed. Therefore, the race for this election was only between Perotti (running on the Republican line) and Randall (running as a petitioning candidate).Elizabeth Rybczyk was the moderator of the recount. Penny Sterling, the town’s Democratic registrar of voters, and Mary Robertson, the Republican registrar of voters, were present as were six volunteers, three from each political party. Town Clerk Linda Amerighi and Loucks were also present. About 10 other individuals, including three media representatives, were in attendance.All ballots were double checked by the volunteers to be sure the selectmen’s column was properly filled in by voters. Three absentee and four regular ballots, which could not be machine tabulated, were checked for accuracy and hand counted. The ballots were then fed into the election machine, one at a tine, and recounted.