Secretary Dunlap announces ballot recounts for House Districts 78 & 121

AUGUSTA - Two recounts of ballots cast have been requested and scheduled for the office of State Representative in Districts 78 and 121, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced Wednesday.

• Candidate Benjamin Twitchell III (R) submitted his formal request for the House District 78 recount on Tuesday, Nov. 15. This district includes the Town of Winslow and part of the Town of Benton. Unofficial preliminary results show a difference of 148 votes between him and candidate Catherine M. Nadeau (D).
  
• Candidate Gary Drinkwater (R) submitted his formal request for the House District 121 recount on Tuesday, Nov. 15. This district includes the towns of Alton, Corinth, Hudson and Milford, plus the unorganized territory of Argyle Township. Unofficial preliminary results show a difference of 22 votes between him and candidate Robert Duchesne (D).

The recounts are scheduled for Thursday and Friday of this week, in the Florian Room of the Maine Department of Public Safety Building, 45 Commerce Drive in Augusta:

**House District Recounts** - to view recount schedule: http://www.maine.gov/sos/news/2016/recountsdistrict78-121.html 

Recounts are a public proceeding. House District recounts are typically completed in one day. In a recount, the representatives of each candidate and staff members from the Department of the Secretary of State manually review each ballot to determine the official vote tally. Results of the recount will be posted on the Maine Department of the Secretary of State website and Facebook page and released to the media via email. State law requires the State Police to collect the ballots for the recount and keep them in a secure State Police facility until the recount has been completed. The ballots are stored in tamperproof metal containers and are closed with specially numbered security seals and locks.