Alleging “widespread and systematic irregularities” in Plymouth’s counting of mail-in ballots in the Sept. 3 primary, state Senate candidate Kari MacRae Friday said she will seek a court order to force town officials to count them again.
MacRae, of Bourne, who originally lost the Republican primary to state Rep. Matt Muratore by 45 votes, alleged that if the town clerk’s office had properly reviewed the mail-in ballots she would have won the primary for the Plymouth and Barnstable district seat.
In a letter she delivered Friday to town clerk Kelly McElreath, MacRae said observers found 75 mail-in ballots that were improperly counted. The ballots, she claimed, had substantial flaws — some had no signature or incorrect signature or envelopes without date or time stamps.
“Clearly, our review of the mail-in ballots cast in the Town of Plymouth proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the town clerk’s office systematically failed to perform the legally mandated signature verification required as a vital part of the mail in ballot process,” she wrote.
Precincts where signatures were not verified, she wrote, were in the highest turnout areas.
“When all the mail-in ballots in the Town of Plymouth are appropriately reviewed and brought into compliance I am confident I will have earned the majority of the properly and legally cast votes in the primary,” she wrote.
Neither McElreath nor the town manager’s office responded to a request for comment.
By any measure, the contest was extremely close. Pending the final tally, Muratore received 7,010 votes, or 50.1 percent, while MacRae won 6,965, or 49.8 percent. There were 565 blank ballots and 14 votes for others.
Muratore, a state representative since 2015, was originally declared the winner, but MacRae requested recounts in each of the district’s eight towns. That winnowed the victory to 39 votes, Muratore said. By Friday afternoon, only Pembroke’s votes hadn’t been tallied, he said.
In a written statement, Muratore said he has “great respect for the clerk and her election workers.”
“We are confident in their integrity, and we are confident that the election was conducted in a manner that reflects their good character and judgment,” he said on Friday.
If the results don’t change, Muratore will face state Representative Dylan Fernandes, a Falmouth Democrat, on Nov. 5. Fernandes ran unopposed in the primary.
They will vie for the seat vacated by State Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, who is running unopposed for Barnstable County superior court clerk.
The primary here isn’t the only one that was decided by a few dozen votes.
In Cambridge, an incumbent state representative barely held onto her seat after a recount.
Rep. Marjorie Decker, a six-term Democrat, fended off a challenge from Evan MacKay, a local organizer, who originally declared victory in the race.
After a recount, Decker was declared the winner by a mere 41 votes, according to state officials.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.