Voting was a solitary experience in Harvard’s Town Election Tuesday morning at the Bromfield School. No candidates or supporters stood outside waving signs and greetings. At times, there was no one in the cafeteria except election workers. But things picked up slightly in the afternoon, according to Town Clerk Marlene Kenney, and occasionally a small line with up to half a dozen people formed at the check-in tables.
In total, 474 voters turned out for the election, about 11% of the town’s registered voters. It was a far cry from the 2,033 (46%) who cast ballots in Town Election last year, when the elementary school building project drew voters to the polls as well as to Town Meeting. In fact, it was by far the lowest turnout in the eight years for which data is available on the town website.
Jennifer Jones of Simon Atherton Row was one of the few people arriving at the polls in late morning. Asked what brought her out to vote, she said, “Just to support the Town Election.” But then, glancing at her two pre-schoolers who were scrambling up a stone wall nearby, she added, “And I want to be a good model for them.”
The only contest on the ballot was for a two-year term on the Warner Free Lecture board, and Jennifer Malloy Combs won that post.
On School Committee, Sharlene Cronin was elected to a two-year seat that she already held through an interim appointment by the Select Board, after Mary Traphagen stepped down earlier this year. And Suzanne Clarke Allen won a three-year term on the committee, replacing Jon Green, who did not run for re-election.
In other races, incumbents ran unopposed for seats on the Select Board, the library trustees, and two other seats on the Warner Free Lecture board, as well as for the position of moderator. (See table above.)
Among the four ballot measures, the top vote getter was the senior tax cap, which won with a whopping 85% of votes cast. But the three other ballot questions, which authorized excluded debt amounts, also passed easily. So the Department of Public Works will get its new dump truck ($195,000); the old library is a big step closer to getting a new roof ($480,000); and Ayer Road will come under professional scrutiny for ways to make it safer for drivers, walkers, and bicyclists ($300,000).
