Court Action Possible In 4th District Race; Auchincloss Leading
NEWTON, MA — Former Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss widened his lead in the 4th Congressional District Democratic primary to more than 1,500 votes Wednesday afternoon, but the final tally may be delayed as Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin seeks intervention from state courts.
In a statement Wednesday, Galvin said state law does not allow for vote counts to continue after Election Day, and several towns had not yet completed their counts as of Wednesday afternoon. The ballots in question were received shortly before the 8 p.m. cutoff.
"On Election Day, there are strict procedures in place to make sure that ballots are counted in public view, where anyone may observe the process," Galvin said in a statement. "It is important that we preserve that same level of transparency for ballots counted after Election Day."
Galvin's request was yet another twist in the race for outgoing U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy's seat, which has changed shape multiple times in less than 24 hours.
The day began at 1:30 a.m. with former Brookline Select Board member Jesse Mermell in the lead by a razor-thin 105-vote margin. After the sun rose, Auchincloss took the lead, staying more than 900 votes ahead of Mermell until a 1:15 p.m. ballot drop put him ahead by 1,500.
The 4th District race was the only one not called on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, a handful of towns still had not reported results — NBC 10 reported that Bellingham had to mount a hand count late Tuesday night due to worker error.
And as of nearly 3 p.m. Wednesday, the town of Franklin had not reported any results.
Mermell campaign manager Katie Prisco-Buxbaum sent a letter to 4th District clerks on Wednesday morning asking them to publicize data on uncounted and late ballots. She later praised Galvin's request to have the courts oversee the vote count.
"This is exactly in line with the concerns our campaign raised earlier today," Prisco-Buxbaum said. "Given the unprecedented nature of this election process, we believe it is incumbent on all communities to be clear about how many ballots are outstanding, including ballots that arrived as polls closed, so that we can have the utmost confidence in the end result."
The Auchincloss campaign issued a statement early Wednesday morning predicting a possible win, but without outright declaring victory.
"While the results of our primary are being calculated, I encourage all voters and candidates to allow the process to comprehensively and lawfully unfold," Auchincloss said. "While we always expected a competitive race, we are confident that our full-district campaign will be victorious when the results are announced."
Mermell took the lead Tuesday after cities at the north end of the 4th District like Newton, Brookline and Needham posted vote tallies. But the vote flipped Wednesday after 100 percent of Fall River's precincts reported results. Auchincloss won the city with 1,041 votes and Mermell came in third place there with 642. The more conservative Auchincloss was winning in towns in the southern end of the district.
If the 4th District results remain close, it's possible for a campaign to request a recount. Under state law, a recount can only happen if the margin is less than half a percentage point. A petition for a recount would have to be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on the third day after the primary.
As of 1:15 p.m., Auchincloss was above the threshold needed to call for a recount, with about 22.4 percent of the vote compared to Mermell's 21.38 percent.
This year's primary was much different due to the coronavirus pandemic. Galvin said this week that about 1.3 million people may vote in the primary, and a majority of those votes will be cast by mail-in ballot.
This article originally appeared on the Newton Patch
