Results from Tuesday's closely watched recount show West Contra Costa teachers have rejected a tentative three-year contract with their school district.

Teachers defeated the agreement, with 705 voting no and 671 voting yes, according to the United Teachers of Richmond Web site. These results are a reversal of last week's tally, which indicated union members narrowly ratified the contract by nine votes.

The union's executive board ordered a recount because the vote was so close, said union President Pixie Hayward Schickele.

But the count conducted Nov. 5 also had raised concerns among teachers for other reasons and a growing chorus had begun calling for a new vote. Several election committee members, observers and longtime union members

say that during a typical ballot count, the committee chair asks a committee member to check the math in the final tally, and the committee certifies the results before delivering it to the president. That's not what happened last week, they said, and that roused concerns.

In addition, some said the ballot did not clearly ask teachers to vote yes or no on the tentative agreement. Teachers had two options: "Yes, I vote to ratify the tentative agreement" or "No, I vote to go on strike."

Election committee members reported some voters wrote in a third option, or checked "no" but crossed out language about the strike or wrote in a suggestion to return to the bargaining table.

"Wording on the ballot was problematic," said teacher Pallop

Wilairat, who sits on the election committee. "We don't know how many felt forced to vote yes because they don't want to go on strike."

Also, not everyone got ballots. A Portola Middle School teacher told Bay Area News Group that he and two colleagues did not receive ballots, and that a new vote should be conducted.

In an earlier interview, Hayward Schickele said votes were correctly tallied the first time.

The three-year agreement, which is retroactive to July 1 and runs through June 30, 2012, carries major changes from the previous contract ranging from health benefits to class sizes.

"It's a very controversial agreement, it's concessionary," Hayward Schickele said. "People are not happy with it. I'm not happy with it."

She added the contract includes provisions that protect members from additional cuts.

Katherine Tam covers Richmond. Follow her at Twitter.com/katherinetam.