Elections were held this past Saturday, May 17 for Halifax, Kingston, and Plympton. Highlights and results are below. Please note that these represent the preliminary results as of Monday, May 19.
Halifax
Several of the races on the Halifax ballot were uncontested. Running uncontested, Robert Mullen won a three-year seat on the Board of Assessors, Jessica Page won a three-year term on the Halifax Elementary School Committee, Holly P. Dillon won a two-year term and Christina Palmer a one-year term to the Board of Library Trustees. Additionally, Bruce Sylvester won a five-year term to the Planning Board, Donald Alger Bosworth won a three-year term to the Board of Water Commissioners and Mark Helisek a three-year term to the Silver Lake Regional School Committee. Candice Greene also won a three-year term on the Board of Health.
There were several contested races as well including a coveted seat on the Board of Selectmen. William Smith defeated former Selectman Gordon Andrews to fill the three-year term left vacant when longtime Selectman John Bruno completed his sixth (non-consecutive) term.
There were three candidates for two openings for three-year terms as Constable. Thomas Hammond and Jake Okerfelt narrowly defeated Michael Schleiff to win the seats. There were also three candidates for two three-year terms to the Board of Library Trustees. Ultimately, Rodney Hemingway was defeated, and the seats went to Erin Nagle and Susan Hill.
The final contested race was for a three-year term to the Halifax Housing Authority. As of Monday, May 19, both Amy L. Troup and Lori Costa-Cline were recorded as having received 24 votes apiece. There were 544 ballots left blank for the position. Halifax Town Clerk Susan Lawless told the Express that if the candidates remain tied once the results are certified, the Halifax Housing Authority and the Board of Selectmen will meet jointly to appoint one of them.
Kingston
Kingston’s town election saw an extraordinarily low voter turnout with just four percent of the residents voting. Carl Pike won a seat on the Board of Selectmen for a three-year term defeating opponent Jesse Pyne. With two openings on the Regional School Committee and just two names on the ballot, both Amy Cortright and Megan Garrity Cannon won three-year terms.
Jesse Keith was the only candidate on the ballot for two open three-year terms on the Kingston Elementary School Committee. There were 13 write-in candidates, however, including Sheila Marie Vaughn who won the second seat with a decisive 85 votes. Notably, Timothy Fitzgibbon received 52 write-in votes while none of the other write-ins received more than two votes.
In one of the only contested races, Rosemary Donahoe won a three-year term on the Board of Health over candidates Joseph Casna Jr. and William Kavol.
Uncontested races included Kenneth Stevens for a two-year seat as Assessor, Robert James Erlandsen for a three-year term as Water Commissioner, Joseph Paul Cunningham Jr. for a three-year seat on the Recreation Commission, and Elaine Fiore as Water Commissioner for a three-year term. Both Emily Bruce and Andrew Kostka were named to three-year terms as Library Trustees. Robert Short and Gregory Charles Zec were named Constable for three-year terms.
While the Planning Board didn’t have anyone officially on the ballot, there were 24 write-in candidates and a three-way tie for a five-year term. The Kingston Town Clerk’s office explained that in the case of a write-in tie, the Board of Selectmen in conjunction with the Planning Board will appoint someone. They will choose between Paul Basler, Robert Gosselin Jr., and Norm Harbinson who received three write-in votes each.
In another contest with no official candidates, a three-year term for Assessor was won by Michael Martin who received the most write-in votes of 15 names submitted.
Plympton
Plympton had a significantly higher voter turnout with 30 percent of registered voters casting ballots.
In the one true contested race, incumbent Selectman John Traynor lost his seat to Nathaniel Sides who will serve the three-year term. Another unexpectedly contested race popped up for a three-year term to the Plympton Elementary School Committee where write-in Alex Ritter received 18 votes to candidate Brian Wick’s 60 votes.
Uncontested races included Dean Jafferian for a three-year term as Assessor, Jared Anderson for a three-year term to the Board of Health, and Michael Lemieux and Steven Lewis each to three-year terms on the Finance Committee. Several Library Trustee seats were taken including a two-year term which went to James Lundgren and two three-year terms for Daniel Cadogan and Lillian Ferguson.
Barry DeCristofano won the three-year term for Moderator and Paul D’Angelo Jr. won a five-year term on the Planning Board. Jason Fraser will also serve another three-year term on the Silver Lake Regional School Committee. While no candidate appeared on the ballot for a one-year term as Constable, write-in Peter Klemme did receive 12 votes.
Plympton also voted down the debt exclusion needed to fund the design, construction, equipping, and furnishing of a new Fire Station. The Town Properties Committee has been working on the town-wide campus project including the new Fire Station plans and determined that renovating the existing station would ultimately prove costly and impractical. If the debt exclusion passed, it would have meant, on average, an increase of about $470 annually for taxpayers.