State certifies Brown win in close-call election

Julia Brown is declared winner in Woonsocket City Council race by RI Board of Elections

WOONSOCKET – And the winner for the seventh seat on the City Council is... political newcomer Julia Brown.

Brown claims her seat on the Council with a total of 3,656 votes to eighth place finisher and former Council member Roger Jalette’s tally of 3,646, a margin of just 10 votes, or .10 percent of 9,615 votes cast in the City Council race, according to results certified by the state Board of Elections on Thursday.

The outcome for the seventh seat was confirmed by the Board of Elections after the panel considered which requests for recounts from Nov. 6 election voting would be eligible for voting machine pact re-reads or full machine ballot refeeds. The panel approved two requests for a re-read and five requests for full ballot re-feed recounts.

The Board of Elections also decided not to accept a request for recount of results of the Central Falls Council At-Large City Council race won by Agostinho Silva under already tallied votes. Silva with 739 of the 2,605 votes cast bested his opponent Carlene Fonseca’s tally of 717, by a 22-vote difference or .84 percent. That difference qualified for a recount under the Board of Elections rules, but Board of Elections Executive Director Robert B. Rapoza noted the recount request had been submitted by the winner of the contest and not the trailing opponent. As a result, the board agreed the recount was not required in the Central Falls council seat election.

Under the requested recount for the Woonsocket City Council’s seventh seat, Rapoza noted that Roger Jalette mailed a letter to the board requesting the recount of that seat but did not have the document notarized.

Because the contest was determined by a margin of less than 200 votes, and less than 1 percent of the total council votes cast, it did qualify for a recount, Rapoza noted, but the request was not properly submitted.

Jalette, Rapoza told the board, had been contacted on Tuesday about the lack of a notarization on his recount request but indicated he was home sick in bed and could not travel to Providence to have the document notarized at the Board of Elections before the office closed that day at 4 p.m.

The six members of the Board of Elections present, Isadore S. Ramos, Stephen P. Erickson, Diane Mederos, chair, David S. Sholes, Richard Pierce and William West, subsequently approved the staff

recommended re-read and re-feed list without the Central Falls and Woonsocket contests included. The panel also voted unanimously to approve the certifications of the statewide elections held on Nov. 6 with the exceptions of the approved re-reads for House Dist. 30, and Exeter School Committee and re-feeds for Coventry Town Council Dist. 4, state Rep. Dist. 28, Scituate School Committee, Smithfield Town Council, and North Kingstown Town Council.

The re-reads and re-feeds are expected to begin at the Board of Elections Friday morning and continue next Monday.

When contacted about her win of a Woonsocket City Council seat on Thursday, Brown, 23, said she had heard about the Board of Election’s certification of the results, noting “I’m very excited about it.”

She had earlier been taking a low-key approach to the continuing vote review process and was happy to know that it had been completed, she noted.

“Now we will work hard and it’s time to get to work,” Brown said. “I’m very excited and I am grateful to the people who voted for me because it was so close,” she added. “It shows that every vote counts and every vote matters,” Brown said.

Jalette, 75, also reached after the election was certified, confirmed that he had been home sick on Tuesday and could not go down to Providence to complete the recount paperwork.

“I ate a little bit yesterday and I had three meals today so that’s good,” he said.

Jalette, a past member of the council with 16 years service to the city, said he wished his opponent well on her new role as a council member.

“She beat me fair and square and I wish her the best,” Jalette said. Brown would need to gain some experience as she starts out on the panel, but Jalette said he believed she would do a good job in her new role and “may be able serve the city better than I did.”

Although commending his opponent’s win of the seventh council seat, Jalette said he did plan to pursue a filing with the Board of Elections over her eligibility for the position due to her current work as a substitute teacher for the Woonsocket Education Department. Brown will most likely not continue in that role and seek work elsewhere, Jalette noted, but he also wants to make sure the requirements that council members cannot be employed by the city are followed.

“I just want to make sure that the law is followed and that she is not collecting a paycheck from the taxpayers of the City of Woonsocket,” Jalette said.

When asked about her plans for future employment while serving the council, Brown said she was surprised that Jalette would even raise the issue since she has no intention of continuing as a substitute teacher in Woonosocket after taking her council seat.

“I am looking for job placement elsewhere and Roger doesn’t have to worry, it is not going to be for Woonsocket,” she said.

Although filling in as Bernon Heights’ school librarian on a near full-time basis last year, Brown said she has been working intermittently at the Harris and Coleman Elementary schools this year. And while she likes working with local children, Brown said she could still help out in after-school volunteer programs when she does leave her current job.

As for her plans for serving on the council, Brown said she will be ready to work with everyone on the panel while looking to move the city forward. “I think with the new council, we are going to have a lot of positive change,” Brown said.

The six other members of the council elected on Nov. 6 are top vote getter and incumbent Jon Brien, John Ward, a former council member, David Soucy, Daniel Gendron, incumbent Council president, and incumbents Denise Sierra and James Cournoyer.