Around New England

Ballots That Wrongly Call Democrat The Incumbent Can Be Counted In Cape State Rep Race, Judge Says

November 4, 2022

Ballots that incorrectly call the Democratic nominee for state representative the incumbent can be counted, a judge from the Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled.

The Republican nominee, Tracy Post, had asked for an injunction to stop town election officials in Dennis from counting as many as about 2,600 ballots in the First Barnstable District that say inaccurately that Democratic nominee Christopher Flanagan is the current holder of the office, according to The Cape Cod Times.

The actual incumbent is state Representative Timothy Whelan, a Republican from Brewster who isn’t seeking re-election. (Whelan is the Republican nominee for sheriff of Barnstable County, which includes all of Cape Cod.)

The Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office called the inaccurate ballots a printing error. Corrected ballots were mailed to voters, but the inaccurate ballots will count if voters return them, following the Appeals Court judge’s ruling.

Post called the ballot error “an unfortunate mistake.”

“I believe in voter integrity, and election integrity, and I feel that my opponent is getting credit for Tim Whelan’s good work and a designation he didn’t earn,” Post said, according to The Cape Cod Times.

In the 2020 general election, 99 percent of incumbent state legislators who ran for re-election in Massachusetts won, according to Ballotpedia.

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