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Beacon Hill Upholds Preliminary Election Results
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The state House of Representatives and Senate approved Monday validating the preliminary mayoral election results.
The special legislation now awaits Gov. Deval Patrick's approval in the next 10 days. The city adopted a homerule petition three weeks ago to accept the results as counted despite 460 votes being illegally cast.
The ballots instructed voters to pick two candidates and 460 voters did so. However, state law does not allow voters to choose more candidates than there are available seats.
The difference between the second highest vote-getter and the last vote-getter was more than the 460 illegal votes and, therefore, the results would still have narrowed the field to Ronald Boucher and Richard Alcombright. Instead of throwing out the votes, the City Council agreed to let the extra votes stand instead of holding a second election but that requires state approval.
State Election