6 days Ago
Secretary of State David Scanlan praised elected local officials and volunteers in helping him to complete recounts of 2024 races with the last one the largest, a close contest for Grafton County commissioner. Four-term Republican incumbent Omer Ahern Jr. of Wentworth closed the gap by 31 votes as a result of the recount, but he still lost by 82 votes to Plymouth Democrat Katie Hedberg.
Hedberg had beaten Ahern by 113 votes on Election Night. “I wish you the best of luck,” Ahern told Hedberg right after conclusion of the recount, which took about six hours to complete. After the recount, Ahern picked up 35 more votes while Hedberg added four to her total.
All nine recounts that included eight races for seats in the 400-member House of Representatives didn’t change the outcomes reported on Nov. 5. “We have put some extra measures in place, and I think we have a great process moving forward,” Scanlan said.
Scanlan also applauded the conduct of observers for both political parties that watched the recount and lodged challenges that Scanlan and his executive staff ruled upon. “Everyone has been incredibly respectful, and it really is an important role that they play in this pretty crowded space,” Scanlan said. “Hopefully this gives everyone confidence in this process.
” Earlier on Monday, Republican challenger David Furman called off his requested recount of a House race in Dover's Ward 6 that he lost by 223 votes to seven-term Democratic State Rep. Peter Bixby. The recount season for 2024 ended much earlier than it did two years ago when more than a record 30 recounts were held as both parties battled over the smallest House margin in more than a century.
“This time there just seemed to be very a small number of very close races,” said Republican National Committeeman Bill O’Brien of Manchester, who led the GOP legal team. These recounts were the first where the state used a high-speed ballot scanning counter that was purchased to comply with a new state law that required Scanlan to do a random audit of voting precincts after every election. The scanning machine helped provide a backup count of boxes of ballots that volunteers recounted individually by hand.
The Grafton County commission seat was made up of 16 towns, but this race was won in Plymouth, where Hedberg won by more than 700 votes. Ahern won in 11 communities, but Plymouth has nearly twice as many voters as any other town in the district. Hedberg served on the Plymouth Elementary School Board for 12 years and had been on other local boards.
A nurse for 42 years, Hedberg has been an advanced nurse practitioner for the past 20 years. Ahern served as a Sullivan County commissioner for four years, and a state representative in Belknap County for two years. He also served on his hometown board of selectmen and currently was on the Wentworth Planning Board.
Ahern grew up at the Sullivan County Nursing Home in Unity as his parents had been co-administrators of that facility. “I hope you’ll run again in two years,” O’Brien told Ahern. klandrigan@unionleader.
com.
