Brownsberger Wins Reelection by 35 Votes After Districtwide Recount
State Sen. Will Brownsberger narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Daniel Lander following recounts across the Suffolk and Middlesex District.
The recounts were conducted in Boston, Belmont, Cambridge and Watertown after both candidates petitioned for a review of the Sept. 1 primary results. Brownsberger entered the process with an unofficial districtwide lead of 34 votes.
Watertown’s recount proceedings began Wednesday at 10 a.m. inside the City Council chamber. The ballot count started around 11 a.m. and was largely completed by 2 p.m. Twenty clerks and election coordinators from across Massachusetts helped local officials review more than 7,000 ballots.
Workers removed the ballots from sealed bags, organized them into groups of 50 and counted them by hand. Observers from both campaigns monitored the process and were permitted to contest ballots for further review.
City Clerk Noelle Gilligan said some questions involved ballots on which voters wrote in the name of a candidate already printed on the ballot. Those votes were treated as blanks under state law.
After the count, lawyers and election officials inspected the ballot bags to ensure all eligible Democratic ballots had been included. Although the hand count was largely completed Wednesday afternoon, the full recount process concluded and Watertown’s results were certified Thursday.
Lander received 3,453 votes in Watertown, while Brownsberger received 3,298. The recount reduced Lander’s citywide total by two votes and Brownsberger’s by four.
Brownsberger, who was first elected in 2012, ultimately finished 35 votes ahead of Lander districtwide, gaining one vote compared with the most recent unofficial margin.
He faces no Republican opponent in the November general election.
