LYNN — School Committee member Michael Satterwhite officially filed papers Monday for a recount of mayoral ballots in last Tuesday’s preliminary election.
(Satterwhite explains his thinking, see letter to the editor.)
Satterwhite, who finished third in last week’s preliminary and was eliminated from the citywide election in November, obtained the required 10 signatures from each ward to move forward with filing papers for a recount; he said he has been speaking informally with a few attorneys to work with through this process, but has not chosen one yet.
He said he will choose an attorney within the next three days, when he is expected to receive more information from the city’s elections office on how the process will proceed.
Satterwhite said there are many aspects that need to be reviewed for this particular primary election and he is hopeful the city can do that with this recount.
Some of his concerns include seeing if there were actually blank or penciled-in ballots, as well as reviewing and recounting provisional and absentee ballots.
“I want to make sure that they’re doing what they need to do in order to ensure that those who voted have their vote counted,” Satterwhite said.
Satterwhite cited multiple issues regarding absentee ballots, including some postmarked well in advance of the election but held at the post office and others not having the required signatures at the bottom.
Satterwhite said he received a call from a woman who put her absentee ballot, as well as her husband’s and three childrens’, into the collection box outside of City Hall. Before the preliminary election, Satterwhite said this woman received a call from the elections office saying she needed to sign the bottom of her absentee ballot, which she — and the rest of her family — did not do because half of that section was covered with a sticker.
Satterwhite said this woman went back to sign her ballot, but her husband and children never received a similar call, so she was unsure if their votes were counted or not.
“This is a very important election, so we can’t have too many people unaware of important things like this,” Satterwhite said. “There were also people who never received their absentee ballot … It’s disturbing. All of these things need to be addressed.”
Satterwhite also mentioned difficulties in voting, including being turned away at the polls due to registration issues or confusion regarding early voting, adding if they want people to vote, “they [the city] shouldn’t make it so difficult.”
Satterwhite said he is hoping this recount will help get to the bottom of all of the confusion he’d been alerted to so that it does not occur in November.
