PROVIDENCE — A recount of ballots yesterday upholds West Warwick Sen. Stephen D. Alves’ loss in Tuesday’s primary, but the longtime politician isn’t taking that as his final answer.

The recount added two votes for Michael J. Pinga, a baker and political neophyte, who beat Alves in the Sept. 9 primary for the District 9 Senate seat, representing West Warwick.

But Alves, 49, has filed a protest with the Board of Elections, requesting a new primary election be held because he says there are discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the number of corresponding signatures for voters.

“We have 87 more ballots than we have signatures,” said Angel Taveras, Alves’ lawyer. Voters must sign a blue slip of paper given to them by poll workers after they check-in before stepping to the machine to cast their ballot. “That’s 4 percent [that] don’t have signatures that correspond to them. That’s a problem no matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican.”

Pinga originally led Alves by 17 votes last week, but the recount brought him to 996 votes, compared to Alves’ 977, whose tally after the recount did not change. A third candidate, Paul Caianiello Jr., received 110 votes. Board of Elections member Florence G. Gormley said the totals would be certified after a hearing tomorrow on Alves’s request.

Representatives from both campaigns, along with the candidates and the media, gathered in the basement of the Board of Elections offices on Branch Avenue yesterday to witness the recount. A counting machine was set up for each of the 12 polling locations in West Warwick, and the ballots were manually fed into the counting machine.

As the machines worked, Alves mostly stood in the back of the room, while Pinga hovered around the machine counting ballots cast at American Health Fitness on Quaker Lane. Local residents and supporters were assigned to each counting station by the candidates, to double check the counts with primary election night tallies.

Alves said in an interview the day after the primary this was to be his last term and said he was calling for the recount out of respect for his longtime supporters. However, Taveras said information from the secretary of state’s office raised alarms about the validity of the election. “The numbers should match and they don’t,” he said. “Anyone who votes signs in.… Who are these 87 people? We’re asking that if we can’t determine that, it requires a new election.”

The Board of Elections has not granted a reelection in recent memory, said Chairman John A. Daluz. A similar action was requested in the 2006 Providence City Council race, but the four-member board was deadlocked on its vote on whether to do so, which buried the measure.

Daluz wouldn’t speculate on whether the nonpartisan board would grant a reelection in this case.

“I won’t predict,” he said. “But knowing the importance of this election, I’d say that neither of the candidates is going to give in. It takes on statewide interest as well. So we’re going to be very careful in doing our job.”

Pinga said that until yesterday, he hadn’t heard anything about the discrepancy between signatures and ballots cast last week.

“The people have spoken,” Pinga said. “[Alves] said this was going to be his last term. I suggest he take the early retirement.”

Yesterday’s results confirmed what Pinga said he already knew.

“We were always confident,” he said. “But we wanted to make sure. I’m glad this step is over. Now we can move on.”

tbuford@projo.com