LEWISTON – Sheriff Ronald Gagnon has requested a recount of the votes cast in Androscoggin County for sheriff, a state election official said Tuesday.

Maine State Police troopers will collect the ballots and take them to Augusta, where the recount will be conducted Monday morning, said Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn.

“It’s an option I was encouraged to take advantage of,” Gagnon said Tuesday. “I’ve never been through a recount, and I don’t know how it will turn out. But if I don’t do it, I’ll always wonder.”

Each candidate will designate a person to hand count the ballots and a member of Flynn’s staff will oversee it, she said.

According to unofficial results, Gagnon lost to challenger Guy Desjardins by a vote of 2,132 to 2,062 – 70 votes – in the June 13 primary election.

“People keep coming up to me and congratulating me,” Desjardins said Tuesday. “I tell them it’s too soon. It’s too soon because it hasn’t sunk in and it’s not over yet.”

Desjardins said he is confident the recount will not change the results of last week’s voting.

“I know how the clerks take a lot of pride in their work,” he said. “I have a lot of faith in them. If I’m nervous at all, it’s only because it’s been such a long haul. But I’m confident that I’ll win.”

Gagnon has been sheriff since 1985. Desjardins was his chief deputy for 11 years before leaving the department Jan. 6.

Because the vote difference was less than 2 percent, Gagnon will not have to pay for the recount, Flynn said.