Recount finding accurate results

AUGUSTA — The first few days of a ballot recount have failed to measurably impact a statewide vote that will allow Black Bear Entertainment (BBE) to build a casino in Oxford.

Casino supporters and opponents cannot even agree on the preliminary results of the recount, with members of each camp reporting a small net gain.

Mark Robinson, a spokesperson for BBE, reported that the ballots in the state's five largest communities have been counted, resulting in a net change of 11 votes in favor of the casino.

There have been "no dramatic changes," said Dennis Bailey, the executive director for CasinosNo. He says that casino opponents have seen a net gain of 35 votes.

Before the recount began, the casino was judged to have passed by a margin of 4,601 votes.

Julie Flynn, of the Secretary of State's office, says that, while errors are often found in voting, they tend to cancel each other out, resulting in no net gain for either side.

Bailey said that all of the ballots that have been recounted were initially processed by machine.

"These were all machine counted, so we weren't expecting major changes," said Bailey. "We are doing some smaller towns today that were hand counted to see if there are any major differences."

Bailey says that the opposition is committed to continuing the recount at least into early next week, when the recount team will tackled ballots cast in Oxford County.

"We'll make a decision then about whether to move forward," said Bailey.

The end of this week will be committed to counting ballots from Biddeford and Saco.

"On Thursday the targets are Gray, North Yarmouth, Pownal, Buxton, Hollis and maybe Cape Elizabeth," said Robinson. "Friday, the targets are Biddeford and Saco."

Insiders have said that the tensions between the camps of volunteers are running high.

"They're beating a dead horse," said Robinson.

There was a brief media flap on Friday, when BBE released, and then withdrew, an accusation that Bailey had closed down a counting station by claiming illness. The misunderstanding was the result of an error made by a state employee, according to sources present at the recount.

Bailey says that the voting public can have faith in the outcome of the recount.

"The state election officials are very professional, and Maine taxpayers can take comfort in knowing that elections in Maine are conducted with a high degree of integrity and honesty," said Bailey. "No hanging chads here."

The 47,844 ballots that were cast in Scarborough, South Portland, and Portland were recounted late last week, resulting in a net change of zero, according to Robinson.

Early this week, the ballots from Lewiston and Bangor were also counted.

Despite some minor staffing issues, the groups of volunteers from BBE and casino opposition groups CasinosNo and Oxford Hills No on One (OHNO1) have managed to process in excess of 20,000 ballots each day.

Roughly one-seventh of the more than 560,000 total ballots have been recounted.