(Updated) After Confusion, Feld Comes Out Winner; Moise Will Waive Right to Recount

Leaving Machiavelli's Tuesday evening, Democrat John Moise was on the outside looking in as the seventh vote-getter for Southington Board of Finance. Checking the numbers at midnight before going to bed, official numbers showed a slight victory - but a mistake left Moise to wake up finding out that Sandra Feld was actually the winner as first presumed.

It has been a roller coaster past 16 hours for Moise and Democrats, a ride exaggerated by a misinterpretation in numbers from the second district, based out of Kennedy Middle School, which created a 100 vote swing for Sandra Feld between the numbers reported last night and corrected on Wednesday morning.

"It is a little frustrating but it is what is, a mistake," Moise said. "In the end they got it right and that's what is most important. I do not want to serve for an office I wasn't rightfully voted in for."

To see the corrected numbers, provided Wednesday, click the link provided.

The change left Feld, who as of midnight was the one on the outside looking in, moving from not gaining reelection to later being named the sixth member of the Board of Finance over the next two years.

"(The vote tally) was written and deciphered incorrectly," said Southington Town Clerk Leslie Cotton. "Last night it was entered as 232 and the final figure out of the second polling district should have been 332."

"That is a 100 vote swing. We are double checking all spreadsheets today and that is typical protocol with any election."

Ed Malczyk, Democratic Registrar of Voters, said the mistake occurred in transferring numbers from the polls to the town clerk. The hand-scribed total were delivered to the Registrar's Office Tuesday evenign and the mistake found and corrected, changing the total.

However, when the numbers were read into the system the "2" that had been changed to a "3" was changed back due to a misinterpretation of the corrected number.

Moise and said Wednesday that the confusion left him and members of both parties questioning the difference. When the two parties alerted Malczyk and Leslie Cotton, the mistake was discovered and corrections made. All numbers were reviewed Monday, not just that in question, and no additional mistakes were found, Malczyk said.

"It is an honest mistake that nobody intended," Malczyk said. "We are certainly looking into the process for changes to assure something like this won't happen again, but in human error and dealing with so many numbers, there are always mistakes that can happen."

The change also left the potential for a recount by shifting votes and leaving the margin of victory under a 44 vote difference. Feld won her seat to office by 38 votes after the correction.

Moise said Wednesday he would waive his right to an automatic recount - a decision he would have made even if the vote was closer - as it will not create any shift of power. It would only replace a Democrat with a Democrat and he said whether it is himself or Feld serving, both are capable of working on a board that has been non-partisan.

Both Feld and Moise said they have been close friends for an extended period of time and ran together and would simply praise and support the other regardless of who had won.

Moise also said he was not willing to waste taxpayer time and money on an unnecessary recount in this case, regardless of how close the final tally ended up being. He said now it's just time to regroup and move forward to find other ways to help the community.

"I would have loved to serve again. I love this town and the position is a non-paying job," Moise said. "It just wasn't mean to be."

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