By Cliff White
Staff Writer
Election day ballot counting showed Gorham Town Council chairman Norm Justice lost his bid for a sixth term on the Gorham Town Council by five votes, but he has requested an inspection of the ballots and voting lists used on Election Day.
The inspection, originally scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 13, has been postponed to Monday, Nov. 19 due to state regulations, said town clerk Christina Silberman. Justice has five business days after the inspection to request a recount of the ballots.
“It’s not over yet,” Justice said. “What it is, it is, if that is what the voters decide. For me, if the outcome is that I’m not reelected, it’s obviously disappointing. I gave my heart and soul to this community. But we won’t know for sure until we get through the whole process.”
Making the decision more difficult for Justice is the fact that if his challenge of election results is successful, it will be his friend, Matthew Robinson, who will likely be unseated. Robinson, 40, a former two-term councilor who left the council in 2006, took third in the election, winning one of three contested council seats in the Nov. 6 election.
Phillip Csoros was the top finisher in the election, with 1,554 votes. Incumbent Burleigh Loveitt kept his seat on the council with 1,306 votes. Robinson was third with 1,182 votes and Justice finished fourth with 1,177 votes. Fifth was Noah Miner with 1,028, Russell Sprague was sixth with 932, David Homas was seventh with 741, and another incumbent, Philip Dugas, finished last in voting with 727 votes.
An eight-way contest for the three seats on the council contributed to the tightness of the race, Robinson said.
 “With eight people running for three seats, and the top four candidates all having similar views, it was going to bunch up somewhere,” Robinson said. “Do I wish it were a 50-vote difference instead of five? Yes, but I’m not surprised with how close it turned out to be.”
Robinson said the five-vote differential had placed both friends into uncomfortable positions.
“It’s very difficult. I’m heavy-hearted at how the election turned out,” Robinson said. “Norm is a friend of mine and we see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. But the way I look at it is, I am the elected councilor. It’s Norm’s right to inspect and recount the ballots, but I’m very confident the results will stand as they are.”
Robinson said he and Justice had exchanged several phone calls, with Justice informing him of his intention to have the ballots inspected before he officially filed the request with Silberman.
“He’s been very courteous, keeping me in the loop,” Robinson said. “It goes back to the mutual respect we have for each other.”
Justice, 54, who has served on the town council since 1992, said charges that council business had been done behind-the-scenes, were unfortunate and may have cost him at the polls.
“The issue of the asphalt plant really brought out those accusations, of people accusing councilors of back-door, behind-the-scenes agreements,” Justice said. “But to the contrary, the whole decision-making process on the asphalt plant happened at public meetings, in full view of the public. There is one thing – a real estate matter – that had to be dealt with in a confidential matter, just to protect the privacy of the individuals involved. The true irony of the thing is that no doubt I lost votes on the issue, whereas if people knew the work I was doing behind the scenes, I might have had their support. But people can’t always know about what’s going on behind the scenes.”
Justice said Gorham’s electoral process – where voters can select up to three choices for council – also may have hurt his chances.
“When you look at the tallies, there are a lot of non-votes,” Justice said. “People were honing in on one or two candidates. It’s interesting, because if you vote for three candidates, you could actually be hurting the one you support the most.”
Justice expressed some surprise that Loveitt, a fellow incumbent, was safely reelected while he appears to have come up short.
“Our positions are pretty similar, so it’s a bit surprising,” Justice said. “But he’s a lifelong resident, which helps, and also his vote on the White Rock School may have helped him and my vote could have hurt me.”
At an Oct. 16 meeting, the town council voted to authorize the Gorham School Department to conduct a preliminary site investigation and create a master plan for a new school on the Chick property in downtown Gorham, damaging the hopes of advocates for a elementary school in the White Rock area of north Gorham. Only Loveitt voted against the measure.
Due to his challenge, Justice retained his seat at Tuesday’s council meeting as Loveitt and Csoros were sworn into their seats, and Robinson sat in the audience. Justice expressed mixed emotions at the possibility that the meeting could have been his last as a member of the council.
“Beyond the obvious disappointment, I’m happy for Matt. If it had to be another candidate besides myself, I would have wanted him there, because he and I think a lot alike,” Justice said. “Even if I’m not a part of the new council, I’m not going to be bored because I’ve got a lot on my plate. But I don’t want to talk about my service on the council in the past tense, because I haven’t conceded yet.”