Massachusetts town clerk resigns after delays to primary vote count

A town clerk in Massachusetts reportedly resigned after delays in counting votes in the state’s recent primary election and after state officials found 3,000 uncounted mail ballots. 

Franklin Town Clerk Teresa Burr submitted her resignation over the weekend and said her last day would be Friday, The Associated Press reported. 

“I am resigning to reestablish confidence with the voters of this community in their elections,” Burr wrote, according to the AP. 

Burr reportedly denied any wrongdoing and said any glitches were “not intentional, nor have I ever conspired to deprive any voter of their ability to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted as part of an election.”

Massachusetts’s primary on Sept. 1 was the first time the state allowed early voting. A record 1 million voters mailed in their ballots, according to the AP. 

Burr, Franklin’s clerk for the past five years, reportedly called it “the most challenging election cycle in my career.” 

Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s (D) office said earlier this month it had found roughly 3,000 uncounted ballots in Franklin. A spokesperson for Galvin said the ballots were supposed to have been sent to polling places on Election Day, but it appears they were never sent, according to WBUR, Boston’s public radio station. 

The delay in Franklin pushed off results of an open congressional seat, vacated by Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D), who unsuccessfully ran in a Senate primary against Sen. Ed Markey (D). Jake Auchincloss, a Newton city councilor and Marine veteran, was declared the winner in the House primary the Friday after the election. 

The Hill reached out to the Franklin Town Clerk’s Office for comment.