Taunton, Easton elections officials: There are no 'missing' mail-in ballots for state rep
The Republican candidate for state representative in the 3rd Bristol District said he questions "many things" about the election results and is calling for a recount.
According to official election results, Democrat Lisa Field has beaten Republican Larry Quintal for the race for state representative in Taunton and Easton by 17 votes.
Quintal has indicated he will be seeking a recount. Field declared victory on election night, Tuesday, June 10.
In a June 12 Facebook post, Quintal wrote, "I question many things" about the election. He wrote that he is concerned that there were "mail in ballots that were stamped June 10th by the USPS but were delivered on June 11th" and that "they don't want" those ballots "counted."
But both the Easton town clerk and the Taunton elections director disputed the idea that mail in ballots that were delivered after 8 p.m. on election day are legally eligible to be counted.
The state representative race between Quintal and Field was a special election to fill a vacancy created by the death of incumbent Carol Doherty in February — and under Massachusetts state law, mail-in ballots delivered after the close of the in-person voting cannot be counted as valid ballots in a special election.
Here's what we know.
According to the Massachusetts secretary of state's website, with the exception of the regular biannual November state election, mail-in ballots must 'reach your local election office or drop box by close of polls on Election Day in order to be counted." (In the biannual November statewide elections, mail in ballots can be received up to three days after election day, according to the secretary of state's website.)
This means that mail-in ballots that arrived after 8 p.m. on Tuesday could not be counted in the election results.
The Gazette sent questions about mail-in ballots to the city of Taunton and town of Easton. Taunton's elections department issued a written statement about the election results on Thursday, June 12 2025.
The written statement cited a Massachusetts law that says that mail in ballots "shall be received by the city or town clerk before the hour fixed for closing the polls." (That law says that the exception to this is biannual November state elections, during which ballots that arrive up to three days after the close of the election day polls can still be counted.)
Provisional ballots and overseas ballots could have been counted in the special election between Field and Quintal, according to the written statement. However, in Taunton, "our office does not have any provisional or overseas ballots to be counted," the Taunton elections department said.
According to the written statement, 409 mail-in ballots were requested by Taunton voters for the special election, and 327 of those were returned before 8 p.m. on election day, the deadline by which they needed to be delivered in order to be counted.
"This leaves 82 ballots that were mailed to voters, but not received by the Elections Department by the close of polls," the written statement said. "It is not unusual to have less than a 100% return rate of Vote by Mail Ballots, in any election. They are not missing, they simply were not received by the Elections Department by the appropriate time to be cast and counted."
"Since the close of polls on June 10th at 8 p.m. our office has received 15 late ballots," the press release said. "Per the law, it is too late to count these Vote by Mail Ballots after the close of polls on Election Day.
Easton Town Clerk Danielle Sicard told the Gazette in a Thursday, June 12, email that "mail in ballots must be received by 8PM on Election Day to be counted."
Sicard said that Easton had two overseas ballots, one confidential ballot, and one ballot that was placed in the "hand count compartment" by the voter and that those four ballots were not counted in the unofficial results but were counted in the official results. (The Easton unofficial results and Easton official results differed by four votes).
According to the official results from Easton, Field won Easton with 1,033 votes to Quintal's 961 votes.
According to the official results from Taunton, Quintal won Taunton with 1,597 votes to Field's 1,542 votes.
In total, Field won the election by 17 votes, garnering 2,575 votes to Quintal's 2,558, according to the official election votes from both municipalities.
The 3rd Bristol District consists of parts of Taunton and parts of Easton:
Easton: Precincts 4A, 5, and 6
Taunton: Ward 1 Precincts A, B, Ward 2, Ward 5, Ward 7 and Ward 8
Lisa Field, a Taunton Democrat, comes from a family of union activists and workers, she told the Gazette.
She works as associate director for the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). Her role involves advocating for legislation for the MNA on beacon hill. Her position as a lobbyist, she said, gives her insight into how the State House works.
Field told the Gazette she had been encouraged by her friend, Carol Doherty, to enter state politics, and, upon Doherty's death, wanted to "continue her legacy."
"I know what families in Taunton and Easton are going through because I've lived it: family and friends struggling with substance use, and the crushing weight of rising costs of living — even losing my home," Field told the Gazette.
Her campaign priorities included increasing government transparency, reviewing state education funding, examining the Department of Public Health's enforcement powers, and addressing potential impacts of federal cuts on veterans services.
Quintal, a Republican, is a Taunton city councilor and co-owner/funeral director at Silva Funeral Home on Broadway in Taunton.
Quintal won his first term on City Council in November 2021 and his second term in November 2023. He told the Gazette during his state rep campaign he believes his profession prepared him for politics.
'Caring for and putting people first,' and 'listening to people' come naturally to him, he said.
With reporting by Daniel Schemer.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton, Easton election officials: No 'missing' mail-in ballots
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