EAST PROVIDENCE — Kevin Costa says neither Harrah’s Entertainment nor Isadore Ramos paid him a thing.

Costa, a city resident, limousine owner and school custodian, said he took three elderly women to the polls Tuesday in his limo because “my heart’s bigger than my body.”

Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr. said Costa brought dozens of people all day long in his white stretch limo – decorated with “Vote Ramos” and signs in support of the statewide casino referendum – to “induce” votes and “protect his interests.”

The mayor said Costa’s interests included defeating a referendum – which was approved – to give the City Council final approval on employee contracts in the School Department and the continuation of “100 percent taxpayer-paid health insurance” for school employees.The mayor told The Journal on Wednesday that the rides may have been illegal. He said they were, at best, “simply wrong.” Larisa is uncertain whether he will file a complaint with the state.

He trails Ramos by 22 votes, pending a count of provisional and manual ballots and a recount of machine ballots. Canvassing Clerk MaryAnn Callahan said there were 18 provisional ballots and about 5 manual ballots, which were rejected when ballot machines jammed, still to be counted by the state Board of Elections. Residents cast provisional ballots when they believe they can vote but are not on the city’s list of registered voters, don’t have proper identification or have been challenged by a poll worker. The local Board of Canvassers later decides whether the set-aside ballots count.

Those votes will be tabulated today, and then every East Providence ballot will be rechecked next week because Larisa, a lawyer, requested a recount.

“Why can’t he just accept that he lost and congratulate Dr. Ramos?” said Costa, who owns two limos for his business, A Getaway Limousine. “ ‘See ya, bye.’ It’s that simple and easy.”

Costa said that as a private citizen, he is allowed to offer rides to the polls in any vehicle he chooses, decorated as he pleases. He received a sign for Ramos, who he thinks is the “better man for the job,” from the Cape Verdean Club on Grosvenor Avenue. He also attached signs supporting the casino and Councilman Bryan Silva.

Meanwhile, he said, people at the local Democratic headquarters told him that a few elderly citizens needed a ride to the polls, and he pitched in.

“They were so happy to be in a white limo going to vote rather than in the back of a black limo going to a funeral,” he said yesterday. “One said, ‘I should have powdered my nose better.’ ”

“I wanted people to vote because I wanted Larisa out,” Costa said. “The city can do better with him out and Dr. Ramos in. [Larisa] is a bum. It’s my gasoline, my time, my pleasure. It’s free speech. I’m not up for a promotion, job movement or a raise. And I wasn’t paid. Larisa can go check my bank records.”

Yesterday, Larisa said Ramos had several school employees helping him with his campaign, such as Costa and Ramos’ campaign manager Bob Rodericks – the School Department’s registration director. At a debate last month, Larisa said Ramos was “in bed with the teachers.”

On Wednesday, the mayor said the race was “wrongly influenced by” Harrah’s and that the casino group or Ramos may have paid for the limo to take people to vote. He said having both signs on the vehicle was a “dirty trick” that “has no place in East Providence politics.”

Harrah’s representatives said they were not involved with the limo, and Ramos’s crew said they weren’t either.

“… I take the Joe Larisa charge as a personal, slanderous attack on my integrity,” Rodericks wrote in an e-mail yesterday. He said he received more than 50 phone calls from outraged residents since the mayor’s post-election statements. “Our campaign never talked to anyone involved with Harrah’s or anyone involved with the casino issue. I know Mr. Larisa received compensation to oppose the casino, but the Ramos campaign had no involvement with Harrah’s at all. I demand an apology. …”

Larisa said he would take Ramos and Harrah’s at their word, but still thought that Ramos should include Costa’s “services” as an in-kind gift on the upcoming campaign-finance report. The mayor also said the casino referendum affected every race in the state and made this election “unique.” If it the casino issue hadn’t been on the ballot, Larisa said he certainly would have won “by several hundred votes.”

When asked how he responds to those who want him to admit he lost and congratulate Ramos, the mayor said, “Everybody in East Providence deserves and expects to know their votes counted. That’s what I’m doing. I absolutely intend to shake hands and congratulate Dr. Ramos if and when the results are final.”