Photo: The state senate recount at Belmont Town Hall auditorium
Call it a day of direct democracy.
On Sept. 10, Belmont witnessed democracy in action in the Town Hall auditorium. For more than four hours, a roomful of volunteers, observers, town officials, and a candidate participated in the re-enumeration of the Democratic Party primary election for state senator held on Sept. 1.
In the first go-around of voting the previous week, incumbent and Belmont resident Will Brownsberger eked out a 34-vote advantage district-wide over first-time candidate Daniel Lander of Boston: 12,291 to 12,257. As the closeness of the outcome was within the right to ask for a recount, both candidates submitted signatures from the four communities – Belmont and Watertown and precincts in Boston and Cambridge – represented in the Suffolk and Middlesex District. On Election Night, Brownsberger easily won his hometown, 4,010 to 1,809, although he lost the other three communities he had been representing since 2011.
Pairs of community volunteers sat at 20 card tables to re-tally each of the 5,824 ballots submitted at the town’s eight voting precincts and those that were submitted early and through the mail. Managed by Town Clerk Ellen Cushman and her staff and overseen by the Belmont’s Registrars of Voters, each candidate was allowed two “campaign agents” to oversee the recount, and note any challenges to the decision by the reader. And in the hallway outside the hall, Brownsberger waited for the results to be called.
Each table received a stack of 50 votes, which were counted to be approved by the Registrars, chaired by Bob McGaw in his final year in the post. Kristen Gagalis, an associate with Anderson & Kreiger, kept the proceedings moving by resolving any procedural questions and reminding those assembled to keep the chitchat to a minimum.
With a steady rhythm, carts of ballots were brought from the Town Clerk’s storage room – once the town’s lockup – and numbers were calculated and approved. And with each enumerated result, the vote advantage Brownsberger held in Belmont never varied by more than a single vote up or down. By 1:30 p.m., all the ballots were read and reaffirmed; Brownsberger would add two votes to his tally, and Landers three extra votes. The final numbers: 4,012 to 1,812, a 2,200-vote margin.
By the end of the recount, the attorneys for both campaigns had high praise for the process and how it was conducted.
“This really is what democracy is all about. You guys are the foot soldiers of democracy. You worked hard, and we really appreciate it, and I think everyone should,” said Brownsberger’s Dennis Newman, whose history with recounts included being the lead Democratic attorney observing the critical Palm Beach, Florida, review of votes in the historic Bush/Gore presidential recount of 2000.
“Today was part of our democracy,” said Lander’s attorney, John Gannon. “We fought 250 years ago to have that right to vote, the right to be heard in a democratic process. So this is part and parcel of that process, and I’m truly honored to be part of the process.”
On Friday, the Secretary of the Commonwealth certified the election, and Brownsberger is returning to Beacon Hill with a 35-vote advantage: Brownsberger 12,291, Lander 12,257.
The contest between the long-serving legislator and a neophyte candidate had its origins in a successful effort by Brownsberger and other legislators to deny an effort in 2024 by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to temporarily raise the commercial real estate tax rate to ease the tax burden on residential taxes. Many saw the rare primary challenges to the long-standing legislators as Wu’s atttempt – with campaign donations and use of political connections – to send a message of her disapproval.
It was Brownsberger who had the final word.
“I wanted to share the good news right away: the recount is complete, and we have prevailed with a final margin of 35 votes,” said Brownsberger in a statement released on Thursday afternoon after the completion of the recount in Cambridge. Watertown and Boston completed their review on Wednesday.
“I am so very grateful for all your work and support in this campaign. I look forward to continuing to serve all of the people in my district, and I am eager to get back to work.”
In his statement, Lander said while the race “did not end as we’d hoped, I am so deeply proud of the campaign we built. I know we have woken up the State Senate and sent a message loud and clear that the days of delay and inaction must end now. Despite the establishment’s best efforts, this campaign won three of the four communities of this district. After being outspent two to one, our grassroots coalition made clear this district is hungry for change.”
