Eric Ward, winner of the Oct. 8 special town election, will fill the fifth Select Board seat left empty by the resignation of Rich Maiore last spring. Ward received 58% of the votes cast, defeating his challenger Adam Wool 383 to 276.
Town Clerk Rose Miranda posted the unofficial results shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. last Wednesday evening and confirmed the outcome the following morning.
Voters cast 661 ballots, including two blanks. Turnout was a meager 13.7% of the 4,821 Harvard and enfranchised Devens residents registered to vote. There were no write-ins.
The final ballot arrived just as the polls were closing. It was cast by a hospitalized voter and delivered to Town Hall shortly before 8 p.m by the voter’s daughter, who had been approved previously to act as a proxy registrar. Miranda retrieved the ballot and drove it from Town Hall to the Hildreth Elementary School gym, where she handed it to the poll workers just as they were beginning to disassemble and pack the booths and other election paraphernalia. It was the last ballot fed to the voting machine, the 661st vote cast.
Ward told the Press this week he was grateful for the support and encouragement he had received and “honored” by the outcome.
“The conversations I had with people across town, leading up to the election (and since) have really helped to energize my sense of where we need to go,” he wrote in an email. “I cannot thank everyone enough. It has been daunting and exciting; I expect it will feel that way for a while.”
In a Monday night email, Wool said it had been a pleasure to talk with Harvard residents during his campaign and to hear their thoughts about the town. Many common themes emerged, he said. “I hope the current Select Board is hearing those same messages and takes some much-needed action.”
“It was a privilege to run for the Select Board as a relative newcomer and to receive the level of support that I did,” Wool added. “While it wasn’t the outcome I wanted, I recognize the value of local connections and the importance of staying engaged year-round. I learned a lot in a short time and look forward to staying involved.”
The day of the election seemed to have befuddled a few of the voters with whom the Press spoke. A visitor to the paper’s booth at last weekend’s flea market admitted she had gone to HES Tuesday morning, realized her mistake, but then forgot to return Wednesday to vote.
Much of the campaign proceeded behind the scenes at candidate coffees and in one-on-one conversations. Signs sprouted along town roads late in the contest, Ward’s bearing a sketch of an apple, the town’s iconic crop, and Wool’s bearing his promise of “Vote Wool; No bull.” The candidates made two joint appearances Sept. 30, one at the virtual candidate Q&A sponsored by the Harvard Press and League of Women Voters of Harvard and another at an afternoon gathering at the Harvard Senior Center.
The last time a special election was held to fill a vacant Select Board seat was Nov. 6, 2016, coinciding with that year’s presidential election. Turnout was nearly five times that of last week’s contest, drawing 3,133 voters for a turnout of 69.2%. In that election, Maiore defeated Noyan Kinayman 1,701 to 1,150.
Ward’s term lasts until Town Election in May 2026, when his seat’s three-year term expires. Also up for election next year is Select Board Chair Kara Minar.
