Carol Harless was sworn in as Hopkinton’s newly elected town clerk following a recount Monday in one of the closest local races in the region.
Harless secured 470 votes, edging incumbent town clerk/tax collector Chuck Gangel by eight votes out of 1,327 ballots cast, a margin of less than 1 percent. Amy O’Brien came in third with 395 votes.
The initial result following the March 12 election showed Harless winning with nine votes separating her and Gangel, but that result totaled three fewer votes cast. Monday’s recount results show Harless picking up one and Gangel, who served as town clerk for the last seven years, picking up two votes that were not originally counted.
The town clerk’s race in Hopkinton gained extra attention this election cycle after the select board voted to move the clerk’s office from the Bates building in Contoocook to town hall.
Voters at town meeting last weekend rejected a petition warrant article calling for the select board to move the office back to the Bates building. At a candidates forum March 6, Harless said she would prefer the office be moved back but also said the job can be done just as well at town hall.
Voters also amended an article seeking to give the select board authorization to sell the Bates building, which housed the town library until the Hopkinton Town Library opened about 20 years ago. The town clerk/tax collector’s office then moved in and worked out of the building until its move last fall.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3321, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)