City Council race heads for recount as 10 votes separate Mejia, St. Guillen

A citywide recount over a 10-vote margin is looming as at-large City Council challenger Alejandra St. Guillen pushes to have all the ballots in every Boston precinct checked — while her fellow newcomer Julia Mejia continues to claim victory.

“Every vote needs to be counted,” a fired-up St. Guillen told the media at her campaign headquarters Wednesday afternoon — about 15 hours after she’d conceded the race for a council seat. “With the margin so low, we believe it is our duty to continue in this election.”

St. Guillen said she’d originally been told that projections had her nearly 200 votes down from Mejia for the fourth and final at-large spot, trailing well behind incumbents Michelle Wu, Annissa Essaibi-George and Michael Flaherty, but ahead of incumbent Althea Garrison and two other challengers. But then the city’s final unofficial vote total, published online late Tuesday night, put them only 10 votes apart, with Mejia picking up 22,464 to St. Guillen’s 22,454.

St. Guillen, a former City Hall staffer, then reversed course, quickly calling for a recount late Tuesday night.

A delighted Mejia had declared victory to a boisterous crowd around the same time as St. Guillen conceded — and Mejia, a former MTV producer, continues to claim victory, telling the Herald on Wednesday she “absolutely” supports the recount but expects to come out on top.

“I can’t wait to go into the City Council in January,” Mejia said. “This is another opportunity to learn about the political process.”

St. Guillen and Mejia — who hadn’t spoken as of St. Guillen’s Wednesday afternoon press conference — have very similar progressive policy platforms. Whoever ultimately triumphs will be the first Latina to serve on the council.

Both received endorsements from various progressive groups, but St. Guillen also had the big-name Boston backing of her friend Wu and old boss Mayor Martin Walsh.

Walsh on Wednesday said, “There’s still provisional ballots that have to be counted, and there’s still absentee ballots that have some time to come in.”

St. Guillen will be able to trigger a recount by collecting 50 signatures of registered voters in each ward in which she’s seeking a recount — which is all of them, she told the media. She must collect those signatures within 10 days of the election and file paperwork with the city’s Election Department, according to the city.

Absentee ballots sent in the mail can arrive as late as next Friday, and official results are expected Nov. 15.

The city said its Election Department has been in contact with the Secretary of State’s Office to make sure it follows the proper procedures.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2NmHKAI