Judge Halts Redistricting; Graham to Appeal Order

Middlesex County Judge Joseph Leen issued a temporary restraining order yesterday overturning the decision of the Cambridge Election Commission to consider students living in Leverett Towers and some MIT dormitories as eligible to vote in a tightly contested race for state representative.

John Wrenn, assistant clerk of the Middlesex County Courthouse, said yesterday that Leen made the decision because he felt that the students in the affected areas should vote in the same place for the general election as they did in the primary.

The Cambridge Election Commission decided recently that the students in Leverett Towers and the MIT dormitories have been voting in the wrong precincts and should be moved to the fourth precinct of the sixth ward.

Leen's decision means the affected students will not be able to vote in the state representative race between Saundra Graham and John J. Toomey. Spokesmen for both candidates consider the students to be supporters of Graham.

Graham said last night she would appeal the decision today in order to protect her right to challenge the election results if she loses by less than the 137 votes affected by the decision.

Toomey, the plaintiff in yesterday's hearing, said he objected to the change of the dormitories to the fourth precinct because he felt it was done "for purely political reasons."

Graham said the election commission's decision was made solely to correct a mistake and was not politically motivated.

She added that she does not think the loss of votes from students in Leverett Towers and at MIT would cost her the election.

"I think it is outrageous for Toomey to trh to remove students from his district," Benjamin Ross, Graham's coordinator of voter registration, said yesterday. "If you live in that district you should vote there. His lawsuit is a demonstration that he does not want to represent students."

Leverett Tower residents will now vote in the state representative race between Thomas H. Mahoney, the Democratic incumbent, and Tadgh Sweeney, a Republican.