Democrat Latha Mangipudi has won the Sept. 17 special primary election following a recount Monday, beating opponent Carl Andrade in the final analysis by a sizable margin – 191 to 146.

“There was a whole pile of 25 ballots that were misplaced on Carl’s side instead of mine,” Mangipudi said Monday by phone, following the official word from the Secretary of State’s office.
The original count had Andrade winning over Mangipudi, 170 to 167. Mangipudi immediately requested a recount.

She said Andrade, who was in attendance at the recount, is not contesting the official result.

“I congratulated him for a wonderful run – this is a democratic process at work, and I’m so glad I did the recount – it’s an education for all of us, and reinforces that every vote counts,” Mangipudi said.

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said it appears to be a straightforward case of human error.

“It’s pretty clear what happened – human error,” Scanlan said. “It appears a bundle of 25 ballots for one candidate was in the sorted pile of the other candidate, so when they did the election and sorted the ballots out and came up with piles for each candidate and put the ballots into piles of 25, what appears to have happened is a pile of 25 ballots for Mrs. Mangipudi got put into Mr. Andrade’s pile,” Scanlan said.

He added while it’s not unusual for an election separated by three votes to flip during a recount, it is unusual to have such a large discrepancy during a recount. The lesson, for candidates, is “never give up.”

“That would also be true for those counting ballots – you can never double-check enough,” Scanlan said.
Mangipudi will now go up against Republican Peter Silva in the November 5 general election for the win – and a State Rep seat in Concord.

Source: Nashua Patch