A select board election that was decided by a single vote has been overturned by the Maine supreme court — also by a single vote.
Cynthia Grant was initially elected to a one-year seat on the Clifton Select Board over Steve Armenia by one vote in the town’s March 24 election. The day after Clifton called the election, two unopened and uncounted absentee ballots were found in the town office.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 Thursday that those ballots have to be counted. Both ballots were cast for Armenia, meaning he has now won the election by one vote.
The town will swear in Armenia “as soon as practical,” Select Board Chair John Williams said.
“I respect the court’s decision, and we as a board will work through our legal counsel to ensure we certify the election results in accordance with the court’s judgement,” Williams said.
“The court made its decision and that is that,” Grant said.
Armenia said once he’s sworn in, he will try to represent the majority of Clifton residents and be fair to everyone.
“I’m happy the court counted those two votes because as an advocate for the Constitution, they did the right thing. The two people’s votes should have been counted,” Armenia said, adding that the issue wasn’t if he won or lost, but if the people’s votes were counted.
The ballots were challenged twice, once in March and a second time in May, because they were taken out by another select board candidate for two of his family members, which is against state law.
The court’s decision was based on the wording of the law and the understanding that the voter who applied for the ballot had to do something improper for their vote not to count. The four justices who ruled the ballots would be counted, Christopher Taub, Julia Lipez, Rick Lawrence and Catherine Connors, decided the voters did not break the law because they were not the ones to apply for the absentee ballot, according to the ruling.
Parts of the challenge regarding improper handling of the ballots were not reviewed because that is not a reason to challenge a ballot in Maine law, according to the ruling.
The three justices who ruled against the ballots being counted, Valerie Stanfill, Andrew Mead and Wayne Douglas, wrote that the law was not clear and there were multiple improper actions by the voters.
“[The voters] did not execute the applications, they did not designate anyone to apply for them, they did not designate anyone to return their ballots for them, they did not return their ballots themselves, and everything was handled by a candidate for office who was prohibited from doing so,” Chief Justice Stanfill wrote.