KENSINGTON, Md. — The closest credit union to bank charter vote to date could have gone the other way if the credit union had taken the advice of its independent inspector of elections and recounted the ballots.

According to a February 9 letter from the accounting firm RSM McGladrey to the NCUA about the balloting controversy, the firm had initially certified the vote on Dec. 19, 2006 as 2,555 votes for the conversion and 2,537 against, giving proponents a victory by a margin or 18 votes. But a subsequent recounting of the ballots seeking to investigate some balloting discrepancies resulted in a count of 2,556 in favor of the conversion and 2,562 against, giving opponents a victory by six votes.

The letter came to light as part of the ongoing discovery process in legal proceedings that have followed the balloting and Lafayette's subsequent withdrawal of the application to convert its charter.