FREEPORT – His victory confirmed Monday via a recount, William Rixon was set to be sworn in Tuesday night as a new at-large Freeport Town Council member.

Longtime incumbent Rich DeGrandpre picked up one vote in the recount, leaving Rixon, a retired schoolteacher, with a five-vote victory. The final tally had Rixon winning, 2,076-2,071. There were no disputed ballots.

“We believe the one-vote increase for Richard DeGrandpre was due to a ballot where the voter had marked a check mark instead of filling in the oval, and the voting machine did not recognize that as a valid vote for him because the voting indicator was not filled in enough, and counted it as a blank instead,” Town Clerk Tracey Stevens reported in an email.

Rixon, Vice Chairwoman Kristina Egan and Sarah Tracy – the latter two running unopposed – were set to be sworn in during Tuesday night’s meeting, which was held after the Tri-Town Weekly’s deadline. James Hendricks, council chairman for the past two years, and Egan both were up for re-election for their positions.

“It all went pretty smoothly, and I’m pleased,” Rixon said. “I’m impressed the job Tracey Stevens and her staff did.”

DeGrandpre, the senior member of the Town Council with 12 years served, took the defeat in stride.

“I’m not through,” said DeGrandpre, owner of R&D Automotive. “I’ve got all kinds of work to do.”

The election outcome was remarkably close, considering voters cast 4,710 ballots in the at-large race. But 547 were left blank on Nov. 4, and DeGrandpre requested the recount two days later.

Rixon and DeGrandpre each selected six people to recount the votes by hand. The town assigned a ballot clerk to each pair of counters. Rixon and DeGrandpre also chose one person to view disputed votes, Rixon picking Ed Roberts and DeGrandpre going with Kate Werner.

The counters got the job done quickly, finishing in less than three hours – considerably less time than town officials anticipated.

On Monday at the Freeport Town Office, people recounted by hand the 4,710 votes cast in the Town Council race between Rich DeGrandpre and William Rixon. In the Nov. 4 voting, Rixon led by six votes, 2,076-2,070. A total of 547 ballots were left blank, and there were 17 write-in votes. The counters were efficient, completing the task in less than three hours — considerably less time than town officials expected.  William Rixon chose to read a good book, “Refuge,” by Terry Tempest Williams, during the recount of the at-large Town Council race Monday morning in the Freeport Town Council Chambers. Rixon defeated incumbent Rich DeGrandpre, 2,076-2,070, in the Nov. 4 voting, prompting DeGrandpre to request a recount. Rixon was the winner the second time around, this time by five votes. Rich DeGrandpre chats with Kate Werner, the person he chose to view disputed votes, during Monday’s recount of the at-large Freeport Town Council race in the council chambers.