After an extended recount procedure, a former superior court judge has been determined the winner of one of two Democratic House nominations in Grand Isle.
At a court hearing in North Hero on Thursday, Judge Thomas Carlson determined that Ben Joseph won the second-largest number of votes in the Aug. 9 primary.
In the initial report on election night, Joseph came in third, 10 votes behind Andrew Julow, a former North Hero school and Grand Isle Supervisory Union board member.
However [a recount reversed that outcome], finding that Joseph won 19 more votes than Julow.
Andrew Julow. Courtesy photo.
The recount raised some questions about the election. According to Julow, who cited a report from those involved in the recount, there were 35 more ballots in South Hero than there were on the voter checklist.
Julow announced Monday [he planned to contest the Aug. 9 election] because of the inconsistencies.
The court hearing Thursday to certify the result of the outcome satisfied many of Julow’s concerns about the vote count, he said in an interview. He no longer plans to contest the election.
“We’re able to get the answers to the questions that were outstanding after the recount,” Julow said.
Rep. Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Photo by Roger Crowley/VTDigger
According to the judge’s order following the Thursday hearing, through the hearing it was determined that some “bad” ballots that had not been fed through the voting machine were counted during the recount.
At the hearing, they also revisited the machine’s tabulation tapes from election day and determined that the total number of votes Joseph received in South Hero was reported erroneously. The tabulator found that Joseph received 175 votes in South Hero, not 147 as was reported on the tally sheet.
Given the error, the judge determined that on Aug. 9, Julow received 560 votes, as originally reported, and Joseph received 578.
The final ruling, Julow said, “while not beneficial to me personally is reflective of the actual voter intent that night which is really the most important thing.”
Rob Backus, the attorney representing Joseph, said that he is “really pleased” with the resolution of the situation.
“What’s really nice about how this process worked is that we uncovered an error that would not have been uncovered otherwise and therefore the will of the voters was honored,” Backus said.
Incumbent Rep. Mitzi Johnson, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, won the highest number of votes in the primary, securing one of the two Democratic nominations.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Former judge wins nomination in Grand Isle House primary.