AUGUSTA - State Senate candidate Jonathan Fulford (D-Monroe) announced Thursday that he is seeking a recount of votes cast in the contest for District 11, which comprises the 26 municipalities of Waldo County.

Unofficial results compiled by Penbaypilot.com showed incumbent Sen. Michael Thiobdeau (R-Winterport) winning by 115 votes out of just over 18,000 cast in the race.

A representative of the Fulford campaign claimed some discrepancies in those figures and reported that the challenger picked up 10 more votes than the incumbent from overseas ballots. In total, the Democratic camp has the margin at 97 votes.

“With high voter turn out all over Waldo County, it is clear that our voters want to be heard,” Fulford said in a statement Thursday morning. “I appreciate the dedicated enthusiasm of the voters and the diligent hard work of all the election officials who counted ballots through the night. In light of the severe weather and power outages across the county and in honor of all the people who came out under these especially challenging circumstances to cast their ballots, we want to be absolutely sure that we have the fairest, most accurate count in such a close race.”

The race for the Waldo County Senate seat was close enough in the late stages that Fulford and Thibodeau both traveled to the town of Waldo where local officials had postponed counting ballots until Nov. 5 due to a power outage at the polls.

As of noon Thursday, District 11 was one of three races in the state where recounts had been requested, according to a representative of the Secretary of State’s office. The others were Senate District 21 and Senate District 25 with margins of 64 and seven votes, respectively, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Local clerks have until the end of the day Friday to submit unofficial tallies for all contests to the Secretary of State’s office. The Governor then has 20 days to sign off on the results. Candidates seeking a recount have until next Wednesday, Nov. 12, to make an official request.

If the margin of difference is less than 2-percent of the total votes cast, as it is in all of the above races, state law allows a recount at no charge. 

The Secretary of State’s representative said ballots in recount races will be transported by state police to Augusta. Recounts are typically observed by attorneys and representatives of both parties, she said.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com