Redo In Framingham District 3 Council Race Set For January

FRAMINGHAM, MA — If all goes according to plan, Framingham's unprecedented District 3 City Council race will be settled on Jan. 11.

That's the date a Middlesex County Superior Court judge set for a special election between incumbent Councilor Adam Steiner and challenger Mary Kate Feeney.

The District 3 saga began on Nov. 2 when Steiner appeared to win the race by two votes, 997 to 995. Feeney requested a recount, which ended with two new votes in her column, tying the race at 997 even. Steiner went to court while his colleagues on City Council simultaneously voted narrowly to set a new election on Dec. 28, right between two of the busiest holidays of the year.

On Monday, Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Christopher Barry-Smith reviewed the two ballots (see images above) counted for Feeney during the Nov. 16 recount. He ruled on Tuesday that they should have been counted as blanks, not for Feeney.

"On both ballots, the single point of a felt-tip pen is apparent to the naked eye, but very small," Barry-Smith wrote. "The point does not come close to filling in the circle."

At the same time, Feeney's attorney, Dennis Newman, revealed that there were two "irregularities" observed during the Nov. 2 election. The first: an absentee ballot was counted even though the voter had not signed the envelope. The second: a woman went to vote, but was told she already had. She protested and filed a provisional ballot that was never counted.

"That potential impact turns not on the rejected provisional ballot — which was blank as to the District 3 councilor race — but on the possible impact that an improper voter was permitted to vote, or to vote more than once," he wrote of the second irregularity. "That possibility presents a very spare basis to order a new election, but the question, of course, is only presented because the results of this election were so very close."

Barry-Smith agreed that the two errors were enough to order a new election. The judge, City Solicitor Chris Petrini and lawyers for the two candidates met via Zoom on Wednesday to decide on a date for a new election.

Barry-Smith suggested two possible dates: Jan. 11 and Jan. 18. Both are Tuesdays (just like Nov. 2), and both are far enough after the holidays to give Feeney and Steiner time to do a little campaigning, he said. All sides agreed on Jan. 11, with Jan. 18 tossed because it follows the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend.

The judge also fixed two other potential problems: pandemic voting rules that allow more people to vote by mail expire on Dec. 15; and new voting districts will be in place in Framingham starting Jan. 1. Barry-Smith ordered District 3's precinct lines to stay the same, and will allow the pandemic voting rules to remain. The election will also only be between Steiner and Feeney — no other candidates will be allowed to enter.