Decker Up 103 Votes, Campaign Prepares for Possible Recount

As incumbent state Representative Marjorie C. Decker’s campaign watch party kicked off Tuesday evening, her campaign manager began soliciting the required number of signatures needed to initiate a recount — an early sign of uncertainty for the incumbent.

Juliana O’Neil made the first speech of the night shortly before 9:15 p.m., announcing to more than 50 Decker supporters at The Phoenix Landing in Central Square that early results showed the race was “very, very close,” while adding that Decker had taken an early lead against her challenger, Evan C. MacKay ’19.

The announcement of Decker’s 103-vote lead was met with a roar of applause by the crowd, but was followed by an appeal for recount votes. O’Neil and another campaign volunteer began passing around recount forms to the audience — a move O’Neil said was taken out of precaution.

To authorize a ward-by-ward recount, Decker would need to collect 38 signatures from registered Democrats who live in the 25th Middlesex District, according to O’Neil. Candidates have until Thursday afternoon to submit the required signatures to initiate a recount.

“We are up right now with the numbers that we have from today. There are still about a good number of ballots to be counted,” O’Neil said. “That being said, this is far from over.”

“We hopefully will not need these, but just in case,” she added.

The most recently updated count from the Associated Press, which The Crimson is tracking live, showed MacKay pulling ahead by 41 votes, with 8 percent of votes counted, at 8:51 p.m.