Voter Turnout Flat for Municipal Election

– Allison Goldsberry

Despite an unseasonably mild and sunny day and a contested mayoral race, voter turnout for last Tuesday’s election was no better than in 2009. According to City Clerk Ed Finn, 26% of Medford voters cast ballots, which is pretty much the same as turnout in 2009.

A review of Medford voter turnout for the past few recent elections appears to show a big difference among national, state, and local elections. For example, in 2010, turnout for Medford voters was 57% to vote in a state election that included electing the Governor, Attorney General, state representatives and others for state or county-wide positions. Even more voters came out for the 2008 presidential election, with 76% participating.

Even though last Tuesday’s 26% turnout was relatively low, it’s higher than in 2007, when turnout was only 21%, but lower than in 2005, when turnout for the city election was 30%.

Unofficial results show that 9,256 ballots were cast last week. Incumbent Mayor Michael McGlynn earned 5,722 votes (62%) while challenger Anthony D’Antonio received 3,179 (34%) votes. Mayor McGlynn won every single precinct in the city, including D’Antonio’s home precinct, which he lost in the preliminary election in September.

Incumbent City Councilor Paul Camuso earned the most votes and was the only Councilor to receive over 5,000 votes. By contrast, the top “vote-getter” for the School Committee was incumbent John Falco, who earned 4,353 votes. More voters cast ballots for mayoral candidates and numbers start to drop off for the City Council and School Committee races.

Challenger Rick Caraviello, who earned a seat on the City Council, received the third highest amount of votes (4,592), while challenger Matt Haberstroh, who wasn’t elected to the Council, actually won his home precinct (6-1) with 372 votes.

Full results are available on www.Medford.org.