Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto has requested a recount in the Nov. 2 councillor-at-large election, and the recount has been scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 20 at 8 a.m. at the Revere High School fieldhouse.
Zambuto, the current City Council President, finished sixth in the election with 2,209 votes, 35 votes behind Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo, who finished fifth with 2,244 votes. Dan Rizzo, Steven Morabito, Marc Silvestri, and Gerry Visconti finished in the top four spots to gain election to the Council.
Zambuto submitted the required signatures for the recount Friday to the Revere Election Department, who officially certified the signatures. Zambuto is being represented in the recount process by Attorney Samuel Vitali, whose law offices are in Lynn. “I’m very pleased to have hired him and his team,†said Zambuto.
All 5,979 ballots in the councillor-at-large election will be recounted, according to Revere Election Commissioner Diane Colella. Colella will lead a team of 22 individual workers at the recount. The Revere Police will be present at the recount.
“We’ll be there until the recount is done,†said Collella.
There were 14,454 “blanks†in the councillor-at-large election. Each voter can cast up to five votes in the councillor-at-large election.
“I am cautiously optimistic that I will be successful in the recount,†said Zambuto.
There have been previous recounts in the councillor-at-large race. In 1997, Zambuto originally finished fifth in the councillor-at-large election, but Councillor-at-Large Joseph DelGrosso moved from sixth place to fifth place in a recount and thus took the final councillor-at-large seat.
In 2011, current Councillor-at-Large Steven Morabito finished fifth in the election by a margin of 10 votes, but John Correggio requested a recount and was able to surpass Morabito’s total in the recount to gain a seat on the Council.
The recount is open to the public.
