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DARTMOUTH — The race for the Democratic nomination in the 9th Bristol state House district is headed for a recount.
Stephen Medeiros, a real estate consultant, told The Light he gathered the signatures necessary for the recount and submitted them to the Dartmouth Town Clerk around 2 p.m. Wednesday. Medeiros ended primary night on Sept. 1 a mere 14 votes behind Edward Pacheco, a bartender and transportation manager. That’s well within the 0.5% threshold required by state law to petition for a districtwide recount.
Pacheco’s lead has shrunk by one vote, to 13, after hand counts and write-ins were reconciled, according to Dartmouth and New Bedford elections officials.
“That margin is super-close,” Medeiros said in comments to The Light.
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Medeiros said that the recount was about assuring election integrity.
“The focus cannot be on political games,” he wrote. “It must be on election integrity. Whether the final outcome changes or remains the same, a margin this close separated by just a fraction of a percent demands complete accuracy.”
Candidates had until 3 p.m. Thursday to submit their petitions for a district-wide recount. The petitions had to include the signatures of 10 residents from each of the 12 voting precincts in the district, totaling 120 signatures. Medeiros confirmed early Friday morning that he was on his way to the Secretary of State’s Office in Boston to submit the paperwork for the recount.
Pacheco said he communicated with Medeiros via text message in an effort to avoid the recount.
“I understand the emotion behind it,” Pacheco said. “But I ask, for the benefit of the district and the party, that we put this genie back in the bottle.
“These recounts very, very seldom yield any significant changes,” he continued. “But if this is the process that he chooses to go with, then we’ll do it.”
Medeiros responded by reiterating the message from his social media post.
“I believe in the voters having the right to know what the true vote is when the vote is this close,” he said.
By state law, any recount must be completed by 5 p.m. on Sept. 11.
The winner of the Democratic nomination for state representative in the district will face Republican nominee Chester Tam in November.
Primary race
Pacheco barely won the race for the district, which includes Dartmouth and parts of the Far North End of New Bedford, after months of campaigning. He won 2,492 votes versus Medeiros’s 2,479 votes.
This is not the only state Legislature race where a slim margin in the Sept. 1 primary has led to a recount petition. State Sen. William Brownsberger and challenger Daniel Lander have both filed for a recount in their Boston-area Senate district, where they are separated by four votes.
The Pacheco-Medeiros race revolved around three proposed affordable housing complexes in Dartmouth — one of which has already been approved — that would bring 549 new units to town, 149 of them affordable.
Both candidates said they supported affordable housing, but they want to reform the state law to include greater local control over project approvals.
A further factor in the race was Medeiros’ extensive record of donating to political candidates of both parties nationwide. The fact that some of those candidates support President Donald Trump’s agenda came back to haunt him.
“Over my entire career, I have supported Democrats by more than a 2-to-1 margin,” Medeiros told The Light in response to the controversy. He added that he supported Republicans willing to work across the aisle to “keep a more extreme Republican candidate from getting in.”
Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org
We sincerely appreciate Ed Pacheco’s reaching out to his opponent to engage in real-time possible resolution, thereby avoiding unnecessary administrative delays and both local and state resources. His approach exemplifies the level of skill required for effective leadership, and representative of how to successfully work closely with all people in the district regardless of their political and/or opposing preferences and backgrounds.
There’s been concern over language used by Steve Medeiros during interview of election results, such as reference to recount ensuring “legal votes” and not entertaining “political games”. This nuanced dialogue, whether intended or not, lends to sow conspiracy and divide, as we are seeing with election deniers in GOP backed groups.
Hardworking and earnest families do not want to be fed doubt and suspicion around sound process integrity from our district representatives. People want sincere dialogue with their representatives on real concerns and real struggles that impact their lives.
A recount is the only way both sides can be confident that the election was as fair as we know how to make it. And we need both sides to unify and work together for the election in November. I believe both candidates can do this.
A recount is available, by law, in Massachusetts if the final vote tally meets a certain threshold. Mr. Medeiros is well within his rights to call for one, as would be Mr. Pacheco or any other candidate who finds themselves in a similar situation. To not call for a recount – especially with the margin as narrow as it currently is – would be a disservice to the voters of Dartmouth and New Bedford, not to mention “campaign malpractice”.