INDEPENDENCE- When Independence Alderman Mike Muscarello went to bed Saturday night, March 5, he did so with the confidence that he had been re-elected to a third term.
On Tuesday morning, March 8, he was confronted with the nightmare that the Saturday vote was inaccurate, and he was out, squeezed off the board by fellow member Jimmy Gregory.
And, by the time he went to lunch on Thursday, March 10, he probably knew that his defeat was final, and though he still had some fight left, finding the slightest election error that could reverse his fate and put him back on the board had evaporated.
That's because a recount of the March 5 Independence Board of Aldermen election results on the morning of March 10 at the parish courthouse by the Tangipahoa Parish Board of Election Commissioners merely confirmed that Gregory, not Muscarello, was the winner.
According to election officials, it was a voting machine glitch that gave Muscarello the Saturday win. When the vote was checked March. 7 by employees of the Office of Secretary of State, it was noted that some votes in the race went to former candidate Jeremy Hookfin, who died Dec. 29.
Although Hookfin's name was removed from the ballot and the machine, for some reason his name was still recognized by the machine for some of the votes.
A secretary of state official said during the recount proceedings that what happened in Muscarello's case was "unfortunate and uncommon."
She said state officials recounted the returns six times prior to the re-count session, and received the same results each time.
Muscarello wanted to know who was responsible for removing Hookfin's name from the ballot. She said it was the responsibility of the Office of Secretary of State.
"And everyone missed it?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes," he was told
Local attorney Nicolas Muscarello Jr. was present with Mike Muscarello for the re-count.
For almost an hour, the commissioners and employees of the parish clerk of court's office counted absentee and machine ballots from the race.
The re-count showed that Gregory received 302 votes to 284 for Muscarello. On the night of March 5, the unofficial results showed that Muscarello received 310 votes to Gregory's 301.
Following the re-count, Muscarello said he plans to meet with his attorney to decide his next step. He got the name of the secretary of state legal counsel from the representative at the recount session.
Gregory was present for the re-count, and said he was glad it was all over.
"It gives me peace of mind," he said. "I'm glad that it's done with." ~Don Ellzey