Reading Election 2023: Select Board Race Recount Takes Place Saturday

READING, MA — After losing by just five votes in the race for Reading Select Board on April 4, Melisa Lee Murphy requested a recount.

On Tuesday, the Town of Reading Board of Registrars approved a recount in the race for Select Board and the race for Board of Library Trustees. Candidate Brian Curry had requested a recount in the latter race after losing by 568 votes. A total of 4,640 votes were cast in the Annual Town Election.

The recount will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Reading Memorial Field House and be done by hand, after the election night votes were tallied electronically.

The counting will be conducted by election workers from Reading, and each candidate is allowed to bring their own observers. Members of the public also are invited to observe the recount, according to the Town Clerk's office.

Murphy, a former paralegal and case manager in the Norfolk County Sheriff's Office, was a challenger in a Select Board race that featured incumbents Karen Gately Herrick and Carlo Bacci. The trio was running for two open seats.

On Election Night, the unofficial results had Gately Herrick winning with 2,400 votes and Bacci claiming the second open seat with 2,371 votes. Murphy finished third with 2,354 votes, just 17 votes behind Bacci.

After the unofficial results were made public, Reading Town Clerk Laura Gemme told Patch that "only hand counts need to be added."

By the time the official results were posted by Gemme's office on April 6, the vote totals had Gately Herrick with 2,430 votes, Bacci with 2,392 votes, and Murphy with 2,387 votes, just five behind Bacci.

Both Gately Herrick and Bacci were sworn in and already have attended a Select Board meeting as part of their current term.

According to the Town Clerk's office, Murphy and Curry filed petitions for a recount. Reading Recap reported that a petitioner must obtain a minimum of 10 signatures in each of the town's eight precincts before having the recount approved.

Massachusetts law requires the recount to be done within 10 days of signature verification, according to Reading Recap.

Patch reached out to Murphy about her decision to seek a recount, but has not yet received a response.

On Thursday, Bacci told Patch: "I fully support the recount."

Reading Recap also reported that Curry's decision to seek a recount in the Board of Library Trustees race was tied to Murphy's recount.

"A recount is already taking place given one race was decided by five votes," Curry said. "Therefore, I would like to simultaneously participate in the hand recount to authenticate the computerized tallied election results."

In the race for Board of Library Trustees, four candidates were running for two spots. According to the official results, incumbent Monette Dugas Verrier received 2,875 votes, while Christian Cappy Popp won the other seat after receiving 2,254 votes. Curry was third with 1,686 votes and Michael Trask Terry was fourth with 1,468 votes.