Who won the election?

Over a week after the May 21 election — and after two recounts that were conducted last week — the Lawrence Board of Education trustee race between Tova Plaut and Jesse Lunin-Pack remained undecided as of press time on Tuesday.

When results were first reported to the Herald on Election Night by school district Superintendent Gary Schall, Lunin-Pack was ahead, 1,610 to 1,184, a lead of 426 votes. Dov Herman, who also ran in the race to replace Dr. Solomon Blisko, received 840 votes. Blisko did not run for re-election.

In the first recount, the day after the election, Lunin-Pack’s initial advantage became a 37-vote lead for Plaut. “Because the count did not match what was reported by poll watchers, including my own, the [school] board requested a recount …,” Lunin-Pack wrote in a letter to friends and supporters that he posted on Facebook on May 23.

“The results are going to be what they are going to be,” he told the Herald. “The question is, how the [heck] did this happen?”

Plaut said only, “I have no comments until all results are official.”

The recount was initiated because district officials thought that a mistake might have been made in the reporting of the election numbers, according to Schall. “As soon as the election was over, the machines were under lock and key and secured, and officially impounded,” he said, adding that the machines were picked up by the Nassau County Board of Elections on May 22, and the district did a recount at the elections board’s Mineola office. “All indications point to a very, very close election,” Schall said.

The district rents the voting machines from the Nassau County Board of Elections, but the board has no jurisdiction over recounts, which are the district’s

responsibility.

According to Lunin-Pack, a second recount was conducted on May 24, and the results were the same as the first recount, with Plaut in the lead by 37 votes.

Board of Education President Dr. Asher Mansdorf sought to make it clear that the school board did not initiate the recount. “We’re not contesting anything,” Mansdorf said. “The election is run by the [district] clerk, and the [district] attorney said they felt the numbers needed to be recanvassed before they become official.”