Free Republic

The Lawrence Board of Registrars met Friday evening to vote on whether or not provisional ballots and absentee ballots would be added to the election totals of Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua or Challenger Dan Rivera. On Tuesday Rivera was declared the winner by 60 votes, but the day was marked with ballot machine mishaps, challenged votes and people voting in Lawrence after also voting in other communities. The Board of Registrars is comprised of Annie Medina, Larry Collopy and City Clerk Billy Maloney. After considering more than 41 provisional ballots and two absentee ballots that were “found” in the Election...

TENARES, Dominican Republic — The night that William Lantigua was elected the first Latino mayor in Massachusetts history, people in this remote city surrounded by cocoa farms and coffee plantations felt as if they had won, too. For months in 2009, Tenares residents had called and e-mailed friends and relatives in the city of Lawrence, almost 2,000 miles away, urging them to vote for Lantigua. “He wouldn’t have won without the support from Tenares,’’ said Fermin Tejada, a councilor in this city which has sent hundreds, if not thousands, of residents to live in Lawrence since the 1960s. Tejada said...

LAWRENCE — A former city parking clerk, who faced larceny charges, has filed a discrimination complaint against Mayor William Lantigua alleging he will not rehire her because she is not Hispanic. Ann Anzalone, 52, of Salem, N.H., filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination claiming that Lantigua has "hired only Hispanics for clerical positions throughout City Hall and other departments outside of City Hall."