In Massachusetts, a state on the east coast of the United States, the Democratic Party managed to overturn a seat in its favor in the local House of Representatives, with only one vote difference.
According to a final count of the ballots last Thursday, it was established that Joe Biden’s party candidate, Kristin Kassner, obtained 11,763 votes in the midterm elections last November. Against 11,762 of her Republican opponent, Lenny Mirra, who was running for her fifth re-election.
1 vote difference out of 23,000 ballots
Once this new count is officially validated, Democrats will hold 133 of the 160 seats in the Boston-based House. A setback all the more bitter for the Republicans since it was initially Lenny Mirra who had been declared the winner.
But on November 30, he had requested a new recount of votes by the Massachusetts Secretary of State, since he was only separated by 10 votes from his Democratic opponent, out of the 23,000 deposited in total.
Kristin Kassner and Lenny Mirra had performed in the North Shore region, a coastal district located between Boston and New Hampshire.
Some ballots considered fraudulent
the boston globe indicates that Lenny Mira has already shared his desire to challenge this new count in court. He assured that ballots “full of ballpoint pens, others with different colored inks” had been counted.
A dozen ballots were selected during the counting process, still raising questions about the outcome of this ballot.
Democrat Kristin Kasnner for her part rejected any accusation of voter fraud. “I am convinced that the election went as it should,” she said.
“We don’t suspect what happened. The recount was used just to make sure. Between humans and machines, we really did count all the votes,” he said.
Debates around voting by mail
With this change of winner, some voices were raised in the coastal state, assuring that the new law allowing voting by mail, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and made permanent in 2022 by Massachusetts elected officials, was not legit
Lenny Mirra, like all the Republicans elected in the Boston chamber, voted against it.
The governor of the state, the Republican Charlie Baker – who will have to leave his place in January to the Democrat Maura Healey – has yet to validate these new results during a special council.
But this new victory marks in any case the loss of influence of the Republicans in the state. Donald Trump’s party has not won a decisive victory in Massachusetts in recent quarters.
Source: BFM TV
