Fern Cormier said he wants a recount.
The challenger to Ward 10 incumbent Frances Caldarelli came in second by only five votes during the municipal election Oct. 25. Caldarelli received 2,151 votes, where Cormier received 2,146 votes.
"I feel it only fair to the voters on both sides that with only a five vote margin, we do a quick double check," he said.
Caldarelli said she has “no problem” with a recount. “I think that is a perfectly natural reaction because it is a very, very close election.”
She said the votes have now been certified. According to the city clerk's office, there is a 30 day period for a candidate to send a letter to them to ask for a recount.
“Then council will say yes or no to a recount,” Caldarelli said. “It will go on from there.”
Other candidates in the Ward 10 race trailed the front two candidates. Steve Ripley received 316 votes, while Mark Signoretti received 682 votes.
Angie Haché, Greater Sudbury chief returning officer, said a yes vote resolution by council for the recount, according to provincial legislation, has to be undertaken within 30 days of the official declaration of election results.
“That means we need a letter from a candidate asking for a recount quickly,” she said, for the resolution to added to an upcoming city council meeting.
Ballots are counted the same way they were counted the first time, by the vote tabulator machines, she said. Equipment used in the recount will be checked for accuracy, she added.
As of noon Oct. 28 Hache said she had not yet received a letter from Cormier asking for a recount.
There was a recount in Ward 12 in 2006.
“It was not as close as this (situation), but it was fairly close,” Caldarelli said.
In the 2006 election, Joscelyne Landry-Altmann received 1,586 votes, compared to John Caruso, who received 1,529 votes, according to statistics supplied by the city clerk's office.
After the 2006 recount, the vote only changed by one vote in one poll, Haché said.
“That could have been a number of things,” she said. “Sometimes it is how the ballots fall in the ballot box and (whether) they are creased.”
Hache said in the 2006 election there was also a double count in one poll on election night.
“What happened is that when they were transmitting (vote results) from the various polls, one of the polls was allowed to go through twice,” she said. “By the time it was noticed in that room, we had already posted it to the web.” She said the error was corrected within hours.