BARRE — With the help of some friends, Brian Judd literally just counted himself out of a City Council race he lost to Teddy Waszazak 18 months ago.
Judd, who is currently running in a contested Republican primary in Barre’s two-member legislative district, took time off the campaign trail Thursday to count ballots that were cast by Ward 2 voters on March 2, 2021.
Those ballots have been preserved under a recently lifted court order that was issued before a superior court judge dismissed the lawsuit Judd filed in the wake of his close — but not close enough to warrant a recount — loss to Waszazak last year. The Vermont Supreme Court rejected a subsequent appeal earlier this year, prompting the city to ask that the order be lifted so the ballots can be destroyed in accordance with state law.
They soon will be, but Judd can’t say he didn’t have an opportunity to review them first.
Thanks to his recent public records request — one that, but for his lawsuit, City Clerk Carol Dawes would have honored more than a year ago, Judd was able to count the ballots on Thursday.
This time, Dawes was skeptical of the “results.”
“I don’t trust their counting,” said the veteran clerk, who monitored a hand count that took less than two hours to complete.
Not because the outcome changed.
Waszazak still won, Judd still lost and the race wasn’t close to close enough to qualify for a recount under Vermont’s election law.
Dawes’ quibble is with a chaotic counting process that ultimately indicated Judd received one more vote than the ballot tabulators that prompted his lawsuit gave him credit for on Town Meeting Day 2021.
“They counted one stack (of ballots) four times and got four different results,” she said.
Dawes said her suggestion that those who helped Judd count the ballots follow procedures used by poll workers were ignored. Instead of first separating the ballots into piles of 25 or 50 and then counting each stack making sure the vote totals add up before moving on, she said, ballots were counted in randomly sized piles — increasing the potential for confusion and mistakes.
The exercise was never going to change the official results — Waszazak won the race, 247-209 — and Dawes described Thursday’s count as “a non-event.”
Dawes said Judd’s count confirmed Waszazak received 247 votes and came up with the same number of “blank” ballots. The only discrepancy — one she said wasn’t worth the time it would take to recount the ballots — was Judd’s assertion he received 210 votes, not 209.
Even if the recently replaced voting machines had reported the same result, Judd wouldn’t have qualified for the recount he requested and was denied after losing to Waszazak.
In order to be eligible to request a recount, a losing candidate must finish within 5% of votes from the winner. Judd lost the race by roughly 15% no matter which vote total you use.
Attempts to reach Judd for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.
Dawes said she is eager to finally be rid of the ballots and make room for the fresh bags she’ll need to seal and store for 90 days after the Aug. 9 primary.
Judd is on the Republican ballot in a local legislative race along with sitting member of the City Council, Michael Deering, and former Washington County state’s attorney Tom Kelly. Two of the three will earn the right to face Rep. Peter Anthony, D-Barre, and Democratic hopeful Jonathan Williams in November.
Anthony and Williams are the only two Democrats running in what is an uncontested primary this year.
