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1st Middlesex District

Pepperell, Dunstable get fiscal 2024 aid for vehicle, culvert fix

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PEPPERELL — Rep. Margaret Scarsdale and Sen. Ed Kennedy secured a total of $360,000 in earmarks for projects in Pepperell and Dunstable in this year’s fiscal 2024 state budget, signed into law last week by Gov. Maura Healey.

“Partnerships are the key to success, and I thank Sen. Kennedy for his steadfast leadership and support as we worked to secure these earmarks,” said Scarsdale, D-Pepperell. All of these projects address urgent needs in our communities, and thanks to collaboration with town leaders, we were able to prioritize effectively to secure money for them. Working together, working smartly, and working hard is how you get the job done.”

Dunstable receives $250,000 for repairs to the Joint Grass Brook culvert. This significant earmark comes from Kennedy, D-Lowell, who successfully advocated for its inclusion in the final budget.

“I am proud to have collaborated with Rep. Scarsdale on securing these important local earmarks in response to the needs of the communities we represent,” said Kennedy. The $250,000 included for the Joint Grass Brook Culvert project in Dunstable will provide crucial state aid for transportation infrastructure improvements in the town.”

Dunstable will receive $50,000 for a new fire chief command vehicle. The vehicle will allow the fire chief to coordinate more effectively with first responders, get to emergencies quicker, and carry back-up safety equipment.

“We appreciate the ongoing support, advocacy, and hard work of Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Scarsdale on behalf of the Dunstable community,” said Dunstable Town Administrator Jason Silva. “This funding allows us to renovate the Joint Grass Brook culvert, addressing a critical infrastructure need and facilitating the replacement of the fire chief’s command vehicle, strengthening our public safety response. Without this funding made possible by Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Scarsdale, the Town would not be able to advance these projects.”

In Pepperell, Scarsdale successfully earmarked $25,000 for the Albert Harris Senior Center to upgrade its kitchen and appliances. The Senior Center serves thousands of meals to seniors every year and the kitchen is in desperate need of repairs, as well as many new appliances. This money will enable the center to continue providing this critical service to the community.

“We are so very thankful to Rep. Scarsdale and Sen. Kennedy for advocating for these funds for the Albert Harris Senior Center,” said Nändi Munson, director of the center. “We can now update our sorely-outdated kitchen equipment, allowing us to enhance and grow our meal program. This service helps meet the vital, basic needs of nutrition and socialization, and these funds will make a huge impact in the lives of Pepperell seniors.”

Over the last few years, access to affordable housing has become an outsized issue within the commonwealth, and the1st Middlesex District is no exception. Kennedy therefore set aside $35,000 for an affordable housing study in Pepperell.

“This $35,000 earmark for the Pepperell Affordable Housing Study will help the town create a strategy for achieving its affordable housing goals over the next few years,” said Kennedy.

Healey signed the budget into law on Aug. 9, and town earmarks will be available for the entirety of the fiscal year for their designated projects.

Margaret Scarsdale officially declared 1st Middlesex state representative

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Margaret Scarsdale can officially use a title she thought she had secured in November — 1st Middlesex District state representative.

Tuesday night, the Special Committee appointed by House Speaker Ron Mariano to examine the results of November’s election returned a unanimous decision declaring Scarsdale the winner of the race. The decision to not seat Scarsdale, the Pepperell Democrat, happened as Townsend Republican Andrew Shepherd filed a late court challenge to the election outcome on Dec. 23 in Superior Court.

Shepherd lost the general election by 17 votes and a subsequently lost a recount by seven votes to Scarsdale. Appearing before the Special Committee on Friday, Shepherd argued that “human error under the smallest of margins… materially affected the outcome of this race.”

Citing past precedent in 1988-89 Connolly v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, Shepherd’s attorney Michael Sullivan said the courts would have to order a new election take place.

Shepherd called into question signatures on mail-in ballots not matching, saying he felt it was “intentional” that town clerks didn’t examine the signatures. Additionally, he said that 114 ballots were discovered during the recount.

In response, Dennis Newman, attorney for Scarsdale, said varying signatures are not unusual. He also responded to Shepherd’s point about additional ballots, saying that 85 of those ballots were found to be test ballots or blanks.

In a statement Tuesday night, Scarsdale expressed excitement about getting to work.

“I am deeply grateful to Speaker Mariano for his steady leadership and to the committee members and their staff for their expeditious review and their attention to this critical process. I am eager and ready to get down to business serving the hard-working people of the First Middlesex District. I am excited to continue to advocate for our communities as a seated member of the House of Representatives, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to deliver real results for my district this session,” Scarsdale wrote.

While Shepherd was unwilling to say if he’d accept the Special Committee’s decision on Friday, he said Tuesday he had called Scarsdale to congratulate her.

“Our campaign is disappointed by the decision of the special house committee, but we are grateful the committee was willing to listen as we presented significant errors that came about during this election cycle,” Shepherd wrote in an email. “We hope these issues raised about the process will lead to the strengthening of our voting system. I’m excited to continue my advocacy in our community and work with our new State Representative Margaret Scarsdale”

Scarsdale took the oath of office Wednesday.

Reporter Shane Rhodes contributed to this report.

Margaret Scarsdale’s swearing-in as 1st Middlesex state rep. delayed

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Democrat Margaret Scarsdale, the presumptive winner of the 1st Middlesex District state representative seat, will be unable to be sworn-in with the rest of her peers at the State House on Wednesday.

In a statement shared Tuesday night, House Speaker Ron Mariano said the House would temporarily delay the swearing-in of Scarsdale and presumptive 2nd Essex District winner Democrat Kristin Kassner.

“While I look forward to swearing in Representatives-elect Scarsdale and Kassner, the House will temporarily delay their swearing in to allow the Special Committee to Examine the Returns to thoroughly review the last minute legal issues raised in each race, and affirm the results of each election,” Mariano said.

Both races have been contested by their Republican challengers, with 1st Middlesex District opponent Andrew Shepherd of Townsend filing his contest on Dec. 23. However, the Scarsdale campaign said that it was unaware of Shepherd’s filing until Dec. 27.

Arguing that the court would lose jurisdiction over the matter Wednesday when the House receives a list of certified names of elected state representatives from the Secretary of State’s office, the Scarsdale campaign filed a motion to dismiss the pending court case.

Additionally, the Scarsdale campaign cited the state Superior Court’s ruling in the 2nd Essex District case from Dec. 29, which argued that it did not have jurisdiction over the case as state Rep. Lenny Mirra challenged his loss to Kassner.

In a statement released Tuesday night, Scarsdale said she was disappointed she would not be taking the oath alongside her peers.

“I, like so many of you, was looking forward to this day, when our district, for the first time in nearly a year, would have representation in the State House. Due to my opponent’s eleventh-hour lawsuit and election denialism more broadly, my swearing-in has been temporarily delayed,” Scarsdale said.

Scarsdale continued, “This new and dangerous trend of not just denying election results, but using frivolous, disingenuous methods to delay the certified winner from taking her seat is chilling, and it poses a direct threat to our democratic process and the values we cherish in the Commonwealth and in our great country.”

Additionally, Scarsdale urged the Special Committee to work expeditiously and said she was looking forward to its review of the election, believing it would uphold the results of the general election and subsequent recount.

“In the meantime, I continue to dedicate myself to all six communities in my district. In the coming days, I will announce opportunities for constituents to meet with me and share their priorities for the new legislative session. I am excited to continue to advocate for our communities as a seated member of the House of Representatives, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to deliver real results for my district this session,” Scarsdale said.

In a statement, Shepherd said he was “heartened” by Mariano’s decision to delay seating Scarsdale.

“I’m heartened to hear that Democrat Speaker of the House Ron Mariano has delayed the seating of Margaret Scarsdale while there is a review of the merits of our case, further solidifying that this legal complaint is not election denialism, but a review of serious irregularities under the smallest of margins. We hope this review will be used to strengthen the voting process throughout the Commonwealth,” Shepherd said.

As Andrew Shepherd challenges 1st Middlesex, judge dismisses Lenny Mirra’s case

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A Superior Court judge dismissed Republican state Rep. Lenny Mirra’s legal challenge after a recount flipped his 10-vote reelection victory to a single-vote loss, while another Republican House candidate defeated narrowly has launched his own lawsuit.

Essex Superior Court Associate Justice Thomas Dreschler tossed Mirra’s complaint Friday, one day after writing a 10-page order denying Mirra’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented Democrat Kristin Kassner from being sworn in as the next state representative for the Second Essex District on Wednesday.

Dreschler said he believes the court does not have jurisdiction at this point, after the Governor’s Council and Gov. Charlie Baker certified Kassner’s one-vote victory following the recount, and instead said “the House of Representatives has the final authority to decide a claim to a seat as a representative.”

“Even if this court were to conclude that it has jurisdiction to hear this dispute, the entry of a preliminary injunction in Mirra’s favor would be futile and a waste of judicial and municipal resources,” Dreschler wrote. “For whatever reason, Mirra waited until just before Christmas to file suit, with the swearing-in set to occur on January 4, 2023. While the court could make a judge available for a trial on the merits on an expedited basis, it would be impossible to complete a trial by January 4, 2023.”

Mirra’s attorney, former state representative, Plymouth County district attorney and U.S. attorney for Massachusetts Michael Sullivan, on Friday filed a motion appealing Dreschler’s decision to dismiss the case.

Townsend Republican Andrew Shepherd is also fighting in court after a recount declared him the loser to Democrat Margaret Scarsdale by seven votes in an election for an open Middlesex County House seat.

Shepherd alleged in a complaint filed Dec. 23 that signatures on some mail-in ballots do not match those voters’ registration signatures, that Groton officials oversaw a “disjointed” recount that “likely resulted in the tallying and reporting of incorrect results,” and that there were extra, unexplained ballots in Lunenburg.

He asked a Middlesex County Superior Court judge to order a new election “to preserve the integrity of the race.”

Andrew Shepherd to challenge 1st Middlesex District state rep. race result in court

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After a narrow recount loss, Townsend Republican Andrew Shepherd will challenge the result of the 1st Middlesex District state representative race in court.

Shepherd will ask a state judge to review the result of the race after 114 newly counted votes narrowed Pepperell Democrat Margaret Scarsdale’s once 17-vote margin of victory to just seven.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Shepherd maintained, as he has throughout the election process, that his intention was to ensure “every ballot was legally cast and properly counted.”

“My greatest concern throughout this recount process was to make sure that every ballot was legally cast and properly counted,” Shepherd said in the post. “Our democracy affords us the opportunity to check, challenge, and verify the results of close elections – ultimately reaffirming confidence in our system.”

That said, Shepherd did question many aspects of that process and said his team had found a number of inconsistencies in the final count. He also questioned whether every voter had been sent the proper ballot following the state’s redistricting process in 2020.

“Regardless of political party, it would be a stretch of the truth to have witnessed this process and say every town’s count was without irregularity,” Shepherd said. “I do want to commend our town clerks and registrars for conducting this recount to the best of their ability, but I believe they are executors of an imperfect system where natural human error calls into question the outcome of a race this close.”

“After much deliberation over the challenged ballots and other procedural errors, my team believes we have a credible argument worthy of a judge’s review that could materially affect the representation of this district for the next two years.”

Shepherd also said the decision to take legal action was not an easy one and affirmed that, through that decision, he did not mean to imply the election had been “stolen.”

“I do not undertake the decision to go to court lightly and I want to be clear: this election wasn’t ‘stolen’ – it’s just excruciatingly close,” he said. “I believe that every single town clerk, registrar, and poll worker acted in good faith. I believe that the vast majority of ballots – mail-in, early, and in-person – were legally cast.”

“But given the errors uncovered during the recount and the newness of mail-in voting by right in Massachusetts, I believe the unique circumstances of this election deserve a second look by a judge,” Shepherd said.

In her own Facebook post on Tuesday, Scarsdale cast doubt on Shepherd’s challenge and asked supporters to help “defend the integrity of the democratic process.” Later, in a statement on Thursday, she said she was “disappointed” in Shepherd’s “eleventh-hour filing” but remained confident in the result of the race.

“Our team is still reviewing this eleventh-hour filing from the Shepherd campaign to overturn our victory in court,” Scarsdale said in the statement. “We are disappointed at Mr. Shepherd’s attempt to circumvent the will of the voters across the district. We remain confident that our local election officials have conducted this election and the subsequent recount with integrity and transparency and that the court will uphold our victory.”

“I look forward to being sworn into the Massachusetts House of Representatives on January 4th and continue to meet with leaders across the district in preparation. I am committed to representing all constituents of the First Middlesex District and working closely with our municipal leaders to overcome the financial strain this lawsuit will pose for our communities,” she said.

Recount results name Margaret Scarsdale next state representative for 1st Middlesex District

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With a recount in the 1st Middlesex District state representative race complete, it would appear Democrat Margaret Scarsdale of Pepperell will be victorious.

According to results provided by Secretary of State William Galvin’s Office, Scarsdale tallied 9,384 votes to Townsend Republican Andrew Shepherd’s 9,367 votes, matching the pre-recount vote tallies.

“We were confident going into the recount that the election had been administered fairly and accurately, and are pleased that the margin of victory for us at the end of this process remains completely unchanged at 17 votes,” Scarsdale said in a statement. “I have already been hard at work settling into this role so that I can hit the ground running on day one on the issues that matter most to the people of this District. My long commitment to public service, most recently as chair of the Pepperell Select Board, has prepared me to fiercely, collaboratively, and successfully tackle our toughest challenges, and I am honored and thrilled to serve the 1st Middlesex (District) as state representative.”

Early on Monday, it looked as though the recount had shrunk Scarsdale’s lead over Shepherd to just seven votes. According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the discrepancy is due to an additional 50 ballots that were identified in Dunstable during the recount and those ballots had been included in the tallies by the Dunstable Board of Registrars.

The Secretary of State’s Office said the town clerk had determined those 50 ballots to be uncast test ballots. Clerks are required to hold public logic and accuracy tests of ballot tabulators before each election, using a “test deck” of no fewer than 50 ballots. Both campaigns were immediately notified after the clerk became aware and an offer has been made to obtain a court order to unseal the ballots and subtract those 50 uncast ballots from the official results, should the parties agree.

The 1st Middlesex District state representative seat has been vacant since February when former state Rep. Sheila Harrington was named clerk magistrate of the Gardner District Court.

Communities in the district had until Saturday to share their recount results with Galvin’s office. The amended totals will now be presented to Gov. Charlie Baker and the Governor’s Council for recertification, which could come as soon as Wednesday.

According to Galvin’s office, candidates can further challenge results through litigation. With that in mind, Shepherd said he and his campaign were “still trying to confirm” recount results with the respective town clerks before they made any decisions moving forward.

“We’re going to review the results of the recount before we take our next step,” Shepherd said. “We’ll look at each and every ballot that had been challenged — some were counted, some were not — and any other discrepancies that might have come out before we make a decision on what to do next.”

“We just want to make sure that every individual had the opportunity to vote and that every vote was legally cast and counted,” he said.

Sentinel & Enterprise City Editor Jacob Vitali contributed to this report.