NEW.BRUNSWICK (CBC) - Two ballots that went uncounted during the municipal election in Saint John on Monday have changed the outcome in Ward 2.

After the ballots were counted by the new high-tech tabulation machines, which were used for the first time in the province, Gary Sullivan and incumbent Carl White had been declared as the winners of the two councillor positions in the ward.

But only one vote had divided White from Patty Higgins. Both ballots were for Higgins, placing her one vote ahead of White with 2,364 votes.

It was found on Tuesday that two special ballots from a nursing home had never made it through the tabulation machines and had gone uncounted, said CBC News' Robert Jones.

The new machines allowed voters to hand-mark their ballots but they were then scanned and counted as the vote was inserted into the box. The machines were meant to provide near-instantaneous results for the provincewide municipal elections.

The problem developed when poll officers attempted to insert the two special ballots into the machine but the machine rejected them, Jones said.

The mayor section of the ballot had been spoiled though the councillor section was valid, Jones said. The machine recognized that part of the ballot had been spoiled and asked if that was correct and if the voter wanted to proceed with scanning the results.

But seeing that the councillor section was valid and unsure how to proceed, the poll officers apparently set the ballots aside, Jones said.

"Sometimes the machine doesn't pick them up for various reasons and it tells them to take a look at something," said Mary Aculiffe, a returning officer in Saint John. "They had set them aside in the spoiled ballots and when we took a look at them, we decided they were really not spoiled."

Face of council could be changed

Higgins has requested a recount of the ballots and both candidates will have the opportunity to examine the scanned images of the ballots on Thursday.

If they are still not satisfied with the results, the votes will be recounted by hand.

Jones said the results of the recount could potentially change the face of the Saint John council.

While serving as councillor, White voted in favour of a tax deal with Irving for the LNG project in the city.

Higgins was a vocal opponent of the tax break during the municipal election campaign.

Voters voted against incumbent mayor Norm McFarlane, who was also a supporter of the deal, and replaced him with councillor Ivan Court, who had opposed it.

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