BOSTON — A lawsuit backed by an informal group of Massachusetts residents who support Bernie Sanders accuses former President Clinton of holding illegal rallies on Super Tuesday and requests that all of the state's 91 pledged delegates be counted for Sanders.

The civil suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston, claims that March 1 visits of former President Bill Clinton to polling locations in Boston and Newton, on the state’s primary election day, included “illegal electioneering” that could have “reversed the verdict of the voters by handing victory” to Hillary Clinton rather than Sanders.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William J. Galvin also is listed as a defendant.

The lawsuit does not specifically refer to Bill Clinton’s visit to New Bedford the same day, citing only Boston and Newton, but says the former president “also made campaign stops in other cities and towns.”

Bill Clinton talked to a crowd of more than 1,200 people for about four minutes just outside the Buttonwood Warming House polling location, during his brief stop in New Bedford.

The civil suit was filed by Boston resident Kathleen Cody, who is listed as a member of a group called MA Sanders Voters and Volunteers Disenfranchised by Bill Clinton. Cody is listed as a “pro se” plaintiff, though, meaning she’s filing the suit only on her own behalf.

The lawsuit’s Exhibit D further clarifies that distinction, saying MA Sanders Voters and Volunteers Disenfranchised by Bill Clinton, “is not and cannot be represented by pro se plaintiff,” but supports the “voter disenfranchisement complaint.”

Cody initially said Friday that she had heard of the group only "vaguely" and was not fully aware of her lead role in the lawsuit, saying: “I did sign it, but it was just supporting the thing, as I understood it.”

She recanted later Friday, though, saying: “I was listed simply because I was handier, I guess. …It’s not like I’m really doing it on my own. It’s in coordination with that group, which I’m part of because we’re doing that (lawsuit).”

Four names appear beneath the group’s statement on Exhibit D: Matthew Lieff, of “Turner Falls” in Franklin County — the correct name of the village is Turners Falls — Lee Ann Ferrier, no municipality; and Mary Few and Ralph Lopez, both of Cambridge.

Lopez said Friday that he's the spokesperson for the "informal citizens' association," which he said is not registered as a political committee or affiliated with any campaign, and exists solely for the lawsuit.

“Our preference would have been for it to be class action, but that won’t happen until an attorney decides to take the case,” Lopez said of the lawsuit.

Lopez said he asked Cody to sign the lawsuit, rather than himself, because he's a registered member of the Green Party and missed the deadline to change his affiliation and vote in the Democratic primary, so he wouldn't qualify as a litigant.

Hillary Clinton won 46 delegates in Massachusetts in the March 1 primary, compared to 45 for Sanders. Clinton won 50.1 percent of the vote that day and Sanders took 48.7 percent, with a difference of about 17,000 votes between the two candidates.

Two days after Clinton's visit to New Bedford, Galvin’s office issued a statement saying neither the former president nor New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell violated state election law, which prohibits campaigning within 150 feet of a polling location.

The lawsuit claims Bill Clinton caused “voter dilution” by appearing near polling locations, where he amounted “to a walking, talking sign for Hillary.”

The lawsuit also claims that Clinton, “in one city through a bullhorn,” said: “I especially want to thank those of you who came out to support Hillary.” The lawsuit adds that video is available of that statement.

Video by The Standard-Times shows Clinton using a megaphone to speak outside the Warming House.

“Thank you all for participating,” Clinton says. “I especially thank those of you who are supporting Hillary, but we ought to give the others a round of applause, too — this is democracy’s day, and we thank you all.”

Follow Mike Lawrence on Twitter @MikeLawrenceSCT