LYNN – Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. is not quite ready to give up the city’s corner office without at least filing for a recount dealing with the Nov. 3 election where he lost to challenger Judith Flanagan Kennedy by 27 votes, 8,043-8,016.”We are going to file (for the recount) either Thursday or Friday,” Clancy said Tuesday morning. “No system is perfect. Statistically the election was so close I think everyone will be more comfortable with a hand count.”Clancy said attorney Haskell Kassler will represent him during the recount.Clancy said he needed 10 signatures from each of the city’s seven wards to file for the recount and that his campaign was working on obtaining those signatures.”Again, no system is perfect and a hand count will allow us to see if the results are correct.”Kennedy, who spent the morning at the State House in a meeting with Gov. Deval Patrick and other newly elected mayors across the commonwealth, said she wasn’t surprised Clancy called for a recount.”I expected it,” she said. “I’d rather there not be a recount, but with such a close election, he’s entitled to one and we’ll see what the outcome is.”One week after the whirlwind election, Kennedy said she is still reeling from the win and is trying get her life back in order by returning mounds of emails and phone calls.”My home phone was disconnected because I didn’t have time to pay the bill, so I’m trying to get some semblance of my life back,” she quipped. “But with the potential recount looming, I haven’t allowed myself to get excited (about the win). I remain cautious, but at the same time, I have to move forward.”Clancy’s choice of Kassler underscores the mayor’s familiarity with recounts. It was Kassler who in September, 1990 helped Clancy challenge former state Rep. Thomas W. McGee’s 4,059-4,050 vote win in the Democratic primary for the West Lynn/Nahant legislative seat.Clancy won the recount by five votes and went on to succeed McGee in the state Legislature even though McGee challenged the recount in court. During the recount, McGee had attorney William McDermott in his corner. McDermott reportedly is going to assist Mayor-elect Judith Flanagan Kennedy fight off any Clancy challenge to her Nov. 3 win.Kassler also represented former City Councilor at large Albert DiVirgilio II in his successful defense of his fourth-place finish in the 2003 final election. DiVirgilio edged out incumbent Stephen Duffy for a spot on the council but Duffy challenged ballots cast in two West Lynn precincts. Duffy won an at-large seat in last Tuesday’s election.The recount petitions Clancy asks voters to sign must, under state election law, specify the particular reasons for the recount request.The petition wording is crucial, as veteran recount lawyers like Kassler, Dennis Newman, James Carrigan and McDermott are well aware, because it determines the scope of the recount. Clancy must also state on the petition if he wants a hand-count of ballots cast in the final election.Once she receives Clancy’s petitions, City Clerk Mary Audley will certify the voter registration status of the people who signed the petition and the city Election Commission will set a date for the recount. State law requires Audley to give Clancy and Kennedy written notice three days ahead of the time and place for the recount.”I’d like to hold it next week if I can and, hopefully, use the (City Hall Veterans Memorial) auditorium stage,” Audley said.The recount process involves a lot of people: Audley estimates she needs to spend $8,000 to $10,000 in city money to hire 30 people for a recount. She said the count will take two, possibly three days City-appointed ballot readers and tally clerks will conduct the count while the candidates, or their representative, and attorneys look on.Any ballots protested or challenged by the candidates will be brought by a city runner to the election commissioners who review the protests and hear arguments for or against the challenge by the candidates’ attorneys. O