CONCORD — State election officials say Lebanon City Councilor Sue Prentiss will appear on ballots as the Democratic Party’s nominee for Senate District 5 after her challenger did not appeal the results of last week’s recount.
Former state Rep. Beatriz Pastor, D-Lyme, indicated early last week that she may challenge the results of a recount that saw her fall 72 votes short of Prentiss in a race to represent nine communities in the Upper Valley. The hours-long effort saw Prentiss receive 4,134 votes, while Pastor had 4,062.
During the recount, Pastor’s campaign challenged Secretary of State Bill Gardner’s decision to not open and inspect ballots discarded by town and ward moderators, arguing a full account of the results isn’t possible without them. Gardner said discarded ballots, which may not total 72 in this case, were not part of a recount process.
Pastor, a Dartmouth College professor of Spanish and comparative literature, did not appeal the decision during Thursday’s Ballot Law Commission meeting, her last chance to do so, according to Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan.
“So the results from the recount stand and the ballots are being printed accordingly,” he said in a phone interview on Monday afternoon.
Asked about her plans on Monday and whether she had conceded, Pastor said via email, “I have nothing to comment at this time about whether I’ve conceded or not or whether I have plans to go forward with some type of challenge of the recount/absentee ballots. I’ll be in touch if there is something I wish to comment on about the recount.”
Prentiss, who now goes on to face Charlestown Republican Timothy O’Hearne in the general election, said late Monday morning that Pastor had not called to concede and otherwise declined to comment.
The Senate district, long considered a liberal bastion, stretches from Lyme to Charlestown and includes Lebanon, Hanover, Claremont, Plainfield, Cornish, Enfield and Canaan.