Sep 21, 2006 8:05 am US/Eastern
Uncounted Ballots Leave Wilkerson Race Up In Air
Ballots In 8 Precincts Still Untallied
BOSTON (CBS4) ―
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State Senator Dianne Wilkerson (File)
CBS
Election officials in Boston will unseal and count votes Thursday that weren't recorded in a close state senate primary race Tuesday.
Longtime incumbent state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Boston, who faced three challengers in the Second Suffolk district, was forced to mount a sticker or write-in campaign after she failed to get the 300 signatures she needed to get her name on the primary ballot.
Her challengers entered the race too late to make the ballot, and also were forced to hand out stickers with their names printed on them or ask voters to write in their names.
That meant the vote had to be hand-counted, and poll workers inadvertently failed to record election results on tally sheets in eight of 73 precincts in the district before sealing them.
So a Superior Court judge issued an order Wednesday allowing the count, scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday in room 801 of Boston City Hall.
"Despite their extraordinary efforts at educating election day personnel for the unprecedented write-in efforts in that district primary, a good faith clerical error was made by precinct workers, preventing a complete tally," secretary of state William Galvin said in a statement.
In the primary, Wilkerson faced opposition from Sonia Chang-Diaz, John Kelleher and Samiyah Diaz, who is also running as a Republican.
During an interview on WBZ Radio Wednesday, Wilkerson said she was confident that she would remain the winner.
"I think it's just putting off another day what I believe is going to be the inevitable," Wilkerson said.
Melissa Threadgill, a spokeswoman for Chang-Diaz, said the campaign had been considering calling for a recount before the uncounted votes were discovered.
"If there are uncounted votes as the secretary of state's office said, they should be counted," Threadgill said. "We've said all along that every vote should be counted."
Unofficial results posted on the city of Boston's Web site before the revelations about the uncounted votes showed Wilkerson holding a narrow 141-vote lead over Chang-Diaz. Out of 11,586 votes reported, Wilkerson had received 5,466, Chang-Diaz received 5,325, John Kelleher received 275 and Samiyah Diaz received 275. Other write-in candidates received 127.
The vote-counting glitch is just the latest twist in the turbulent career of Wilkerson, the only black state senator on Beacon Hill.
In 1997, she pleaded guilty to failing to file tax returns from 1991 to 1994. She was sentenced to house arrest, then sent to a halfway house for 30 days by a federal judge after twice breaking a court-ordered 9 p.m. curfew.
She is facing a campaign finance lawsuit filed by the state attorney general alleging she failed to report nearly $27,000 in donations and refused to explain more than $18,000 in personal reimbursements.
Prosecutors were also reportedly considering perjury charges against Wilkerson in connection with testimony in her nephew's manslaughter conviction appeal.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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