In the First Essex District, Just 9 Votes Separate the Candidates in the Race for State Representative
The next time someone says your vote doesn’t matter, just point them to the First Essex District, where just nine votes separate the candidates for state representative. For now, at least.
In the district, which represents the northeast Massachusetts towns of Amesbury, Salisbury, and Newburyport, Republican James Kelcourse leads Democrat Ed Cameron by 6,971 to 6,962 votes, according to The Daily News of Newburyport. Yes, by nine votes.
Some mixups, though, have complicated the race even further. The AP unofficially named Cameron the winner by an 18-vote margin, but that was due to a clerical error in the vote tally, The Daily News reported. The updated numbers switched Kelcourse to his nine-vote lead.
But the Republican has not been declared the victor because a few dozen provisional ballots have not yet been counted
in Newburyport. Under state law, residents whose names do not appear on voter rolls can still cast a ballot, but the ballot isn’t counted until officials confirm that person’s residence and voter eligibility.
Both Amesbury and Salisbury have tabulated their provisional ballots, but Newburyport is still researching the status of its 38 provisional ballots. A clerk in the Newburyport city office said the research would likely be completed by Friday morning.
Those 38 potential votes could easily swing the election, so it’s unclear at the moment who will be the next state representative. Cameron, the one who’s currently down nine votes, handily won the vote in Newburyport, so those ballots could be in his favor.
And you thought Charlie Baker’s 40,000-vote win over Martha Coakley in the governor’s race was close.
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