Manchester: The Suffering Ends

The recanvass of the ballots in Manchester is over, and the Republicans have held the majority. After two grueling days of Florida-style hand recounting, the margin dwindled from 22 votes between candidate Jeff Beckman, a Republican, and candidate Jason Doucette, a Democrat.

The hand recount process is terribly flawed, with SO many opportunities for human error. And yet, strangely, the law of statistical probabilities kicked in somewhere and delivered a vote tally with minimal differences between Election Day and the end of the recanvass.

The ball now is in the court of Mr. Doucette and the Manchester Democratic Town Committee to see if they will let the result of two ballot counts stand or if they will go to court.

The swearing in for the first Republican majority in Manchester in 16 years is scheduled for Monday, November 19.