Deadlocked battle between P&G and activist Peltz about to get more vicious in the 'snake pit'

The latest recount tally showed that activist investor Nelson Peltz inched out a win for a board seat at Procter & Gamble. But the proxy fight is not over until it's over. Next, the two sides will descend into the "snake pit." That's the rare process by which advisers for P&G and Peltz's Trian Partners will hunker down into a room and review each contested vote to ensure that it's valid. Unlike political elections, shareholders can vote as many times as they like for director nominees, with only the last ballot counting toward the tally. In the snake pit, the proxy solicitors and outside counsel for either side will look at whether they're counting the most recent vote and for other discrepancies like whether the ballot was signed appropriately. IVS Associates, the independent inspector of elections, found in Wednesday's preliminary recount that Peltz won by a matter of 42,780 votes. That represents .0016 percent of the company's outstanding shares. To put that into perspective, the margin is equivalent to just 5,000 people swaying an election where every person in the U.S. was eligible to vote. The two sides have spent $60 million combined on the proxy fight, which may incentivize each of them to pore over every last ballot through the "snake pit" process. Investors in the consumer products giant with a market value of $223 billion have a lot at stake as well. P&G shares jumped as much as 3 percent in after hours trading Wednesday after word came out Trian had won the