BELFAST, Maine — Waldo County’s largest community struggled Tuesday night and all day Wednesday when it came to counting the votes cast on Election Day.
Belfast City Manager Joe Slocum said the city would not be able to release official results at least until Thursday because of a complication in counting the ballots. He sent a three-page memo Wednesday afternoon to city councilors explaining the problem.
“It’s not enough to change any race,” he said. “That’s my assessment at this time.”
But City Councilor Mike Hurley told the Bangor Daily News that he was disappointed with the reporting delay.
“People have a right to expect to have their votes tallied and reported in a reasonable time frame,” he said. “I’m not sure what the problem is, but we’re going to find out and we’re going to fix this.”
The city made the unofficial results available to the BDN by late afternoon, and they have been posted on bangordailynews.com.
According to Slocum, there was a discrepancy in how ballots that had been “rejected” by the electronic voting machines were tallied in the city’s different wards.
Some of those ballots had been counted once then padlocked in boxes after the polls closed, he said. Those ballots needed to be checked again, however, but the city had to wait for permission from the Maine secretary of state before local officials could use wire cutters to open the boxes.
Slocum said state election workers told Belfast to have “everybody calm down and lock everything up” late Wednesday afternoon. Efforts to recount the ballots would resume Thursday depending on what state officials said, according to the city manager.
“We may want to offer the political parties an opportunity to watch us look at the rejected ballots,” he said.
Some of the state election officials were speculating that there might be a mechanical problem with one of the machines, Slocum said, accounting for ballots being “misread” and rejected.
According to Belfast City Clerk Denise Beckett, close to 50 absentee ballots were rejected by the machine. It was unclear if those were the only ballots that were disputed.
Altogether, 3,603 of the city’s 4,584 registered voters cast ballots this year.
Slocum also said Maine’s official election reporting form was complicated and has changed each year for the last two years.
“It’s far more complicated than most tax returns,” Slocum said, adding that he has heard that Belfast isn’t the only community that struggled this year. “I spent the whole day and most of last night trying to understand it.”
Not to smart at city hall…and Hurley should.just be quite ..ex mayor
I think what you meant to say was “Not too smart at city hall….and Hurley should just be quiet..ex mayor”
Your comments reveal that you sir are not “too” smart yourself and maybe should “quit” while your ahead. All of those pesky e’s and o’s at the end of words are pretty hard to understand for some, although my 8 year old has got a good grasp on it.
And you must be a pseudo intellectual..if you were only half as smart as your mom says you are..you may be ok.Nothing on substance ..only grammar
Perhaps they couldn’t figure out how to count all those Ron Paul votes.
Congratulations Mary Mortier. Seaview Terrace is your ward and we
need you to save us. We have been in some of the same meetings and you
have been watching the demise and drowning of Seaview Terrace by key
City Hall officials. Being a realtor, the shame that Bill Ingersoll and
Jan Andrews from Town & Country, Belfast has cast on the industry by
knowingly not disclosing this secret City free for all stormwater
stream “sewer” to this survivor Mom who crawled here to begin again with
her battered children, must turn your stomach. I turned away every home
that disclosed streams or had any water issues. I was adamant I did not
want water, period. I paid for a property inspection by DJ Brown,China
Village, Me. I drove 500 miles to see the house, the snow covered the
stream. City Hall has thrown every road block, hid public documents,
used police intimidation, City Attorney intimidation, have tried to stop
me from speaking at public meetings, refuse to speak, anything and
everything to break this battered Mom and deny the illegal and unethical
forced flooding to tiny Seaview Terrace, no rights of way, no
easements. Sandy would have been the end- 6 inches of rain would be over
6 feet of water roaring over every property on Seaview Terrace. Marina
callously ignoring us and even trying to rob TIF funding from Northport
Ave. where Belfast can build City Stormwater sewers instead of using our
private property for over 30 years. They send it from miles away, up
and down Rte 1, across Rte 1, even from Wight St. which is a direct path
to the outlet in City Park. In 2010, the Planning Board, Mike Hogan and
Wayne Marshall tricked me at the site visit and we are getting the new
Annex building’s stormwater too. I was on top of that the whole way and
they lied. I had 30 days to appeal from the site visit and construction
didn’t begin till 6 months later. I was duped and only course would be
an expensive, useless Zoning Board of Appeal, You must be familiar with
the couple on Old Searsport Ave selling their dream, the chapel. They
were duped by the City too. Prior to purchased, Wayne Marshall assured
them that the lot across from them was unbuildable and not a threat to
their view. Mr. Caswell drew a plan for a home on a napkin and Wayne
approved it, the house was built. The couple fought back, after 10k
spent in the Appeal process, they were getting nowhere. They cut their
losses, put the house up for sale and feel outcast from the community,
Deja Vu. Alan Wood telling them he will never forgive himself for being
forced to vote against them and resigned. Now, Caswell’s house is in
foreclosure and he is out of state. Mary, I can’t even move, I would not
lie to a buyer.Since 2010, 4 homes have been sold here. We are all from
out of state. I am holding on without assistance and will not give up.
To think how I put everything on the line to move here, to save us,
calculating every dollar to be sure we could survive and begin again
with peace, safety and stay under the radar. Instead the City has ruined
our lives and propelled me into the spotlight, further injuring my
children and stealing my hope, rights, home, neighborhood and community
good will.
I apologize if I have offended Belfast residents with my blog name,
http://www.belfastbullies.blogspot.com. Couldn’t think of another name that
would capture the realtor, City Planner, City Manager, City Attorney,
City Council and sadly, the Mayor. Since 1968, @ 7yrs old, when my
parents stumbled on a $3700 fully furnished cottage in Bayside when we
were driving home from the Worlds Fair in Canada in our Ford LTD with
those nasty puckered vinyl covered back seats, I knew this was my home.
After 3 cruel strikes in Bayside, my dreams stolen, I had to cut ties
with Maine, it was too painful. Four years later, I saw a glimmer of
hope, and against all odds, I made it happen, all alone and scared to
death. I am not this awful woman that City Officials have portrayed me
as. Please save us before it is too late.
Sincerely,
Laurie Allen