Burnham, Freedom, Knox, Montville, Palermo, Thorndike, Troy, Unity
House District 45 recount confirms Jones was winner
Official 31-vote margin, narrows the contest, upholds the outcome.
Mon, 11/19/2012 - 4:45pm
Brian Jones (D-Freedom) listens to incumbent Maine House District 45 Rep. Ryan Harmon during a legislative candidates' forum in September. Results of a recount Monday confirmed that Jones defeated Harmon by a narrow margin at the polls. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Brian Jones (D-Freedom) listens to incumbent Maine House District 45 Rep. Ryan Harmon during a legislative candidates' forum in September. Results of a recount Monday confirmed that Jones defeated Harmon by a narrow margin at the polls. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
AUGUSTA - A recount of the House District 45 election results held Monday morning upheld the unofficial outcome, giving the victory to challenger Brian Jones (D-Freedom) over incumbent Ryan Harmon (R-Palermo).
House District 45 includes eight Western Waldo County towns: Burnham, Freedom, Knox, Montville, Palermo, Thorndike, Troy and Unity
According to a press release from the Maine Secretary of State's Office, the recount determined that 2,253 votes were cast for Jones while 2,222 were cast for Harmon. The 31-vote margin was slightly larger than the 26 votes reported by penbaypilot.com on Election Night but smaller, by two votes, than the 33-vote margin of the unofficial results given by the Secretary of State.
As of Monday afternoon nine of 14 scheduled recounts had been completed. None of these reversed the outcome of races as reported in the unofficial results.
House District 45 was one of two Midcoast races in which a recount was requested by the losing candidate. The recount for Senate District 20 will be held Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 9 a.m. at the Department of Public Safety headquarters on Commerce Drive in Augusta.
Senate District 20 includes all of Lincoln County, the Knox County towns of Friendship and Washington and the Kennebec town of Windsor. In unofficial results from that race, incumbent Christopher Johnson (D-Somerville) beat challenger Les Fossel (R-Alna) by 134 votes, or 0.6 percent of the total votes cast.
If a recount does change the outcome of the election, the Maine House of Representatives determines which candidate to seat in House races, the Senate makes the same determination in State Senate races, while county races and statewide referenda reversed by recounts are determined by the Supreme Judicial Court, according to the press release from the Secretary of State's Office.
Penobscot Bay Pilot reporter Ethan Andrews can be reached at ethanandrews@penbaypilot.com
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