DIXFIELD – A recount Friday of Tuesday’s municipal election ballots revealed that Raymond “Tiny” Carlton instead of Bettina Martin will serve on the Board of Selectmen.

Carlton and fellow newcomer Tony Carter are expected to be sworn in at the next board meeting at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

They will join Selectmen Eugene Skibitsky, Montell Kennedy and Stephen Donahue on the board.

After Tuesday’s ballots were tabulated on election night, candidates Carter and Martin were proclaimed winners of a three-way race for two three-year selectmen’s seats.

In that tally, Carter received 237 votes, Martin 227, and Carlton 223 votes.

But Carlton wanted a recount. “I thought it was so close that we ought to do it. People do make mistakes, you know,” Carlton said.

He said Friday that he phoned Town Manager Nanci Allard on Wednesday morning, asking for a recount.

Later, he learned that his verbal request was a mistake, as did Allard when she then errantly asked Deputy Town Clerk Vickie Carrier and assistant Theresa Hemingway to recount the ballots.

“It was inappropriate,” Allard said Friday, apologizing to Selectmen Hugh Daley and Stephen Donahue, and to Carter, Carlton and Martin.

Allard said a recount request must be in writing, that selectmen must be present, and the affected candidates also have a right to be there.

Carrier’s and Hemingway’s nonbinding recount revealed that Carter received 235 votes, Carlton 228, and Martin 224 votes.

“In the future, I’d like to see stuff done appropriately,” Carter told Allard before her official recount Friday.

Because Allard holds the title of town clerk – although Carrier does the actual work of the town clerk – it was she who recounted the ballots.

When she began counting the first set in the town office, everyone watched intently. Frowns soon surfaced when her totals didn’t match Wednesday’s tallies.

That signaled a recount of the recount.

Ballots for each candidate were then counted individually until the correct number was determined.

Selectwoman Sandra Buchanan soon arrived to help, tallying the third set. Donahue then spelled Buchanan. Another incorrect count led to more recounting until the mistake was found. By 12:45 p.m., the recount ended.

“I’ve never seen a three-way race so close,” Allard said. As far as anyone could determine, it was Dixfield’s first recount.

Martin left, visibly disappointed, but satisfied that the ballots had been correctly tabulated. Outside, Carter expressed disappointment with how Wednesday’s inappropriate recount started.

“One of the reasons I ran for this seat is accountability. We need to be following the policies in our proceedings, and the law. So it appears that we’ve got work in front of us, and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Carter said.

He believes that because the first syllable of the three candidates’ names sounded so similar, votes were errantly marked under the wrong names on tally sheets. “I think it was just human error,” he added.

Carlton said he was looking forward to being on the board.

“I’m happy about winning, and I’ll try to do the best job I can once I get in and find out what’s going on. It’s gonna be interesting, and it’s gonna be a learning experience,” he added.

[email protected]