AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine’s highest court will be asked to step in to help resolve a contested Republican Senate primary election.

Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky announced Monday that the recount of June 8 voting in the Senate District 20 Republican contest between Dana Dow of Waldoboro and Leslie Fossel of Alna gave each candidate 1834 votes. Four additional ballots, however, remained in dispute.

Gwadosky said the disputed ballots would be forwarded to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for a determination.

Initial tabulations had put Dow ahead by 1871 to 1853.

Gwadosky said both candidates had signed off on the outcome of the recount and would await a law court ruling.

Two years ago, Fossel reached the general election in a bid for the Senate but lost to Democrat Christopher Hall of Bristol.

The election outcome was formally disputed until Jan. 9, 2003, more than two months after the voting, when the Maine Senate declared Hall the duly elected winner by a vote of 24-11. Six Republicans joined all 18 Democrats, including Hall, to carry the vote. Hall’s seating gave Democrats the 18-17 majority that they have enjoyed through the current legislative session.

“Recounts are a vital part of our electoral system. I want to thank the candidates and their representatives, as well state and local election officials and personnel at the Maine State Police, for their involvement and efforts. The final unresolved ballots in this recount will be sent to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court for a determination,” Secretary Gwadosky said in a statement Monday.

Gwadosky noted that if a recount produces enough disputed ballots to affect the outcome, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court reviews the disputed ballots to settle the election.

Maine law requires that all ballots are sealed in security containers in each community on election night and that ballot boxes from communities involved in a recount are collected by state police and stored in a secure state police facility.

Recounts are conducted at the Maine State Police crime lab in Augusta.

Officials of the state’s Elections Division and representatives for each candidate review ballots manually to check the initial tabulations.

Candidates may revise election results by mutual agreement.

AP-ES-06-21-04 1852EDT