Democrat Deb Pignatelli was planning a recount. She lost her re-election last Tuesday to former Councilor Dave Wheeler. Both have held the seat before. Wheeler won this round, and a correction from a Merrimack Polling Place just expanded his lead.
Related: NH Republicans Flip the Executive Council – Take 4 of 5 Seats
| Corrected District-Wide Totals | Wheeler 76,939 | Pignatelli 74,440 |
Wheeler received a significantly lower number of votes in Merrimack than Republican Gary Daniels, who was recently re-elected to the NH State Senate. Those contests tend to attract the same voters, so the numbers should have been a lot closer.
The discrepancy was questioned, so the totals reported from all the counting equipment in Merrimack were re-checked, and Wheeler had received over 8119 votes, not the 6467 originally reported. (I expect all the other totals were verified as well, but no other changes have reached my ears.)
All tolled the final numbers for EC 5 put Wheeler up by 2500 votes instead of less than 1000.
Pignatelli’s request for a recount is still on the table, but she may decide against it after seeing these numbers. Overcoming a handful of votes is possible and happens, but 2500 is a big number.
But then, it wasn’t a big number until it was.
We shall see.
