Less than one month after State Representative Brian Golden narrowly defeated Dave Friedman in the September 17 Democratic primary race for the 18th Suffolk House seat, observers are raising doubts about the integrity of the election process. One Friedman supporter even filed a complaint with the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Elections Division this week.

On October 7, Friedman backer Christopher Hunter faxed a one-page letter to the state’s Elections Division detailing what he described as " objectionable practices " that he witnessed while working at the polls at the Alexander Hamilton School, in Brighton, last month. Hunter, a Suffolk County assistant district attorney, had volunteered on September 17 to serve as a poll watcher for the Friedman campaign at the school, which doubles as a polling place for three voting precincts in the area.

By midmorning that day, Hunter zeroed in on two translators who had been hired for the day by the city’s Election Department to assist the neighborhood’s large population of Russian-speaking voters. Under state law, translators are allowed to approach voters only when voters request help. But according to his complaint, Hunter spotted the translators routinely escorting voters from the sign-in table to the voting booth — without a peep from them first. Sometimes, the translators entered the booths with voters. Other times, they pointed to or even placed their hands on the lever that had Golden’s name on it.

After repeatedly witnessing such activities, Hunter complained to city Election Department officials, who, he says, reprimanded the translators. " The elections warden told the translators not to approach voters until and unless they asked for help, " he explains. While city officials did put a stop to the suspicious behavior, Hunter filed the complaint with the secretary of state in an attempt to trigger an investigation into the incidents. As he puts it, " The few times that I saw these activities happen, it appeared that the translators were directing the voters. That appearance concerns me. "

Hunter, it seems, isn’t the only Friedman supporter to suspect foul play. Boston lawyer Andrew Fischer also volunteered as a Primary Day poll watcher at a housing development for Jewish seniors on Wallingford Road, in Brighton — the polling place for Ward 21, Precinct 13. This polling place, like the school on Chestnut Hill Avenue, serves a considerable number of Russian Jewish voters who cannot speak English. Soon after the polls opened, a Friedman-campaign volunteer approached Fischer and told him that a voter had overheard a city-paid poll worker soliciting votes for Golden.

The news put Fischer on alert. The state’s election laws, after all, prohibit anyone, let alone an official election worker, from soliciting votes within 150 feet of the polls. " I began watching this person, " Fischer says, although he didn’t witness any wrongdoing. Hours later, however, another Friedman volunteer approached him. This time, the volunteer said he’d observed the same city worker escorting an elderly Russian voter to the booth while exclaiming, " Golden. Golden. Golden. " Fischer notified the elections warden, who, he says, instructed the poll worker to stay away from voters.

Fischer suspects that the city worker tried to steer voters to cast ballots for Golden — so much so that he’s conducting his own investigation. In recent weeks, he has tracked down two Russian voters to interview them about their conversations with the worker because, he says, " I’m concerned that this was not a clean election. Can I prove it yet? No. But I hope to uncover the evidence. "

Candidate Friedman, a newcomer to Boston politics, finds the activities seen by Hunter and others to be " disturbing. " To him, they suggest " an apparent pattern of improper conduct " — one that could call the entire election into question. The Democratic primary race for the 18th Suffolk House seat was a close one. Golden beat Friedman by just 314 votes. At the polling place where Fischer worked, Golden won by 211 votes; at the polling place where Hunter worked, Friedman won. So if any poll workers had engaged in illegal activities, notes Friedman, " it’s quite possible that could have affected the results. "

But while Friedman worries about a possible pattern of misconduct, his supporters stop short of charging that there was an orchestrated campaign to drum up votes for Golden. Hunter, for instance, stresses that he doesn’t know the two translators’ intentions. Maybe some of the voters had asked them for instructions on how to vote for Golden. " I mean it when I say that there could be an entirely plausible explanation for what I witnessed, " he says. No one is accusing city officials or even Golden campaign workers of wrongdoing. Explains Jim Tierney, the lawyer for the Friedman campaign, " We contacted the city because the workers were employees. But the city certainly responded to our concerns. "

Ultimately, Friedman has no intention of challenging the primary election. " Neither myself nor my campaign will file legal action, " he says, though he supports Hunter and Fischer in their decisions to pursue complaints with the state. " But my main concern, " he says, " is to make sure this kind of practice never happens again. Next time, every candidate should enjoy a fair election. "