Blake, Warner tie in race for Ward 3 council seat in Franklin

FRANKLIN — The Ward 3 city council race ended in a tie between incumbent Valerie Blake and Al Warner, each receiving 153 votes during the municipal election on Tuesday.

To settle the tie, there will be a recount. If that produces the same result, Chapter 18, Section II, Part O of the city ordinance states the tie will be settled by a lot, where the city clerk will prepare slips of paper numbered one to 10. Each candidate will draw one from a container. The candidate with the highest number will be declared the winner. The recount, and drawing if necessary, will take place on Monday, Oct. 7, at Elks Lodge 1280. The time is to be determined, and will be posted at franklinnh.org.

The election had only one other tight race: Thomas Boyce, with 136 votes, edged out Samuel Jacobson by six votes in Ward 2. In Ward 1, Delaney Carrier, with 181 votes, had a decisive victory against Bruce Marshall, with 151 votes. The only contested school board race in Ward 3 went to Michael Lombardo, with 185 votes, against Bradley Camley, with 98 votes, for a three-year term. 

The close race in Ward 3 surprised Blake.

“That was an outcome I totally haven’t even considered,” she said.

Both she and her opponent were unhappy with the result, but accept the process. That doesn’t change the nerves surrounding the outcome.

“Now you got the sweaty palms, waiting for the luck of the draw,” Warner said.

Blake compared this race to the lottery, saying it’s anyone’s game.

“I don’t even buy a lottery ticket,” Blake said. “And to see my fate as a councilor is basically a 50-50 draw, is kind of ironic.”

Jacobson said he will also ask for a recount in Ward 2. He says the six-vote difference, or 2.5% of total votes cast, falls within the 10% margin to request a recount. While he believes his opponent Boyce ran a good race, he wants to be diligent.

“Just to be sure. It’s so close,” he said. “It can’t hurt, just to make everybody feel better.”

While a tie is an unusual result, it has happened before. Mayor Desiree McLaughlin said it happened in a 2018 race between Councilor Olivia Zink and Karen Testerman in Ward 2. Testerman won the tie through a drawing. McLaughlin said while the process seems undemocratic, this could be the best solution.

“If you think about it, the people elected, barely, both,” she said. “You’re really remaining within the spirit, because they both received the same amount of votes.”

She also said a special election to determine the winner sounds good in theory, but with three elections squished together — the state primary, municipal election, and General Election in November — it seems like overkill, and would potentially cause lower voter turnout.

“Would I like to see another special election? Sure. But what’s the likelihood of having another election? Because we still have another election,” she said.

One thing that set the election apart was political activism from the mayor. McLaughlin spent time campaigning for Marshall, Boyce and Warner. The mayor was seen outside polling sites holding signs for the three candidates.

Blake believes this to be out of the ordinary, and part of the reason why the race was so tight.

“She’s influential, she’s the mayor. She’s a figure of authority that people typically respect, listen to, but her actions aren’t what a mayor would do,” Blake said. “I have never seen a mayor actively campaign against candidates.”

McLaughlin said she was involved because she believes some candidates are running to break it.

“I think there is a lot at stake here, because there’s a large amount of people that want to adjust the tax cap,” she said. “A lot of people elected me because I ran on protecting the tax cap.”

Blake denied her goal, nor that of her peers Jacobson and Carrier, is to break the tax cap.

McLaughlin said they are using bonds to get around the tax cap, but Blake said that exception exists for a reason, and has led to significant economic development in the city, despite the limitations of the tax cap.

Warner said the support of the mayor is warranted, as the city needs a shake-up.

“We have fallen into a rut where the administration is calling the stops, and the city council is a rubber stamp,” he said.

The municipal election had an approximately 20% voter turnout. One candidate thought increased turnout could have made the race more decisive.

“It’s a massive public service announcement that your vote counts,” Warner said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct which candidate won a tie in 2018. Karen Testerman was the winner of that drawing in Franklin's Ward 2.