Fog, drizzle, and even occasional downpours did not keep Harvard voters from turning out for Tuesday’s Town Election. In all, 1,659 voters cast ballots, according to the official results posted on the town website. That was a turnout of 34.7%—the highest for a Town Election since 2018, when the issue of building a new elementary school drew 46% of voters to the polls.
In the contested races, Ahmet Corapcioglu and Eve Wittenberg won seats on the Select Board. One seat on the board will remain vacant until a special election can be held to replace Rich Maiore, who resigned after the ballot for this election had already been closed.
Stacie Green won reelection to the Harvard Public Library board of trustees, of which she is currently the chair. And Sarah Saleh won the open seat on the board.
Brian Killeen for the School Committee and Piali De for the Warner Free Lecture board of trustees both ran unopposed and will take their seats on those boards.
This year’s high voter turnout likely resulted from strong feelings both for and against the two-tiered override measure on the ballot. The smaller of the two tiers, designated 1A, provided for an additional $939,839 in taxes; that tier passed handily by more than 400 votes. Tier 1B, which provided for $1,374,389 in additional taxes, passed by just 47 votes. The passage of 1B supports the full omnibus budget as it passed at Town Meeting.
Of the voters who spoke with the Press outside the polls nearly all mentioned the override. Asked what brought him to the polls, Aaron Nutt said, “I am here to support the override for the schools and municipal budget.” Alison Weiss agreed, saying, “I’m here for the override. I feel like children deserve to have the school system that we moved here for.”
Matthew Marr and Deborah Drummey, who both grew up in Harvard and graduated from the Bromfield School, felt differently. “Our taxes are high enough already,” Marr said. Drummey said, “People come here for the schools and then move out. But the people who grew up in the town and sustained it can’t afford to stay. … It’s driving the old-timers out of Harvard.”
A blitz of letters, emails, signs, phone calls—and negative advertising
One reason for the higher-than-usual turnout may have been the extensive campaigning that preceded the election. The Vote Yes campaign to support the overrides put out lawn signs, sent emails, wrote letters to the Press, and made phone calls. Many campaign emails combined support for the override with support for Corapcioglu and Wittenberg as Select Board candidates, according to examples shown to the Press.
At the polls, voter Laura Thomas recounted getting a phone call in support of the override the morning of the election: “I never got a call before in 20 years here. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a recording, but it was a real person!”
Negative campaigning also played a part leading up to the election. An anonymous letter, signed only “Your Neighbor,” urged people not to vote for Select Board incumbent Don Ludwig. Ludwig was censured by the Select Board earlier this year for comments he posted on social media. Several people who had signed his nomination papers for this election received the anonymous letter. It is unclear how many such letters were sent. Some “Dump Ludwig” signs also appeared around town—one on the Common, despite its being illegal to post political signs there.
Julie Gowel contributed to this article.
