The State Ethics Commission has determined that one complaint filed by a former Selectmen candidate regarding “unfair advantage activities” in the town election is unfounded.

Candidate Michael Frates had considered pursuing legal action against the town following his loss in the April 5 election. Instead, he filed two complaints with the commission against Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva related to defective ballots and what Frates says was a faulty voter document supplied to him by the Clerk’s office.

Out of the four Selectmen candidates, Frates garnered the least amount of votes.

Regarding the faulty voter list, Frates said the office, “did in fact manipulate a request by [Frates] for a non-partisan list of voters.”

In a letter dated April 28 sent to Silva, the commission’s Deputy Chief of Investigations Katherine Gallant wrote that following a discussion with the Town Clerk the issue was closed.

“Relying on information received, including information provided by you, we are satisfied that this matter does not require any further action on our part,” Gallant wrote.

The letter referred to Frates' complaint as, “a concern that certain information regarding information lists may have been manipulated to render the information nonextractable.”

On three occasions, Frates asked the clerk's office for a voters list and was told the list came from the state and was sent to data processing. It came back to him in an unusable format the first time, he said. Frates has run for Selectmen for three consecutive years.

"It was damaging to my campaign," said Frates, who planned to do pre-sorted mailing to voters through the post office.

Frates asked three Town Clerks in neighboring towns the same question: "If a candidate for a local election comes to you and asks for a list of voters in electronic format, how are they given the document?" According to Frates, the clerks told him the electronic format was sent by the state and no data processing was necessary.

"There was no need to get data processing involved with this – period. Why do you go out of your way to make that format unreadable?" Frates asked. "I question the ethics [at the Clerk's office].

Calls to Frates and Silva seeking comment were not returned as of this publication.