BOSTON (WHDH) - City and town clerks have been told to stop counting and to seal votes that came in before 8 p.m. on Tuesday ahead of an announcement regarding the winner of Massachusetts’ 4th congressional race, 7NEWS has learned.
#7News has learned that city & town clerks have been told to stop counting votes that came in before 8pm yesterday but rather seal and hold them. An announcement about the 4th congressional race – that has not yet been called – is expected soon.
— Kimberly Bookman (@KimberlyBookman) September 2, 2020
As of Wednesday morning, the race remained too close to call. Candidates Jesse Mermell and Jake Auchincloss were only separated by roughly 100 votes with about 80 percent of precincts reporting results.
An announcement on the race is expected to be made at some point on Wednesday afternoon.
Existing state laws lack procedures for the counting of state primary ballots after election day but Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin announced that he is asking a court to authorize local election officials to continue counting state primary ballots that were received on time and had not been tallied as of the end of Tuesday night.
In a statement on Galvin’s order, the Mermell campagin said, “We are pleased to see the actions being taken by clerks and Secretary of State Galvin to secure and count all the votes in this race. This is exactly in line with the concerns our campaign raised earlier today. 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.”
Mermell and Auchincloss, along with seven other candidates, are vying for the seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who opted not to seek reelection and instead challenge Sen. Edward Markey in the U.S. Senate primary.
Auchincloss is a Marine veteran and a city councilor in Newton, while Mermell is a former member of the Brookline Select Board and a former advisor to former Gov. Deval Patrick.
This is a breaking news story; stay with 7NEWS for updates online and on-air.
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