by Marty Green ·
Friday, May 8, 2026
Beginning with a slow trickle that grew unevenly throughout the day, voters made their way to the Hildreth Elementary School gym Tuesday to cast their ballots in the Town Election. With no contested elective positions, the only suspense was the outcome of the two ballot questions—the $135,370 override for the fiscal 2027 omnibus budget and the $800,000 debt exclusion for the Eldridge Road culvert. Both passed handily, according to the unofficial results posted on the town website. (Results are not official until certified by the state.)
Incumbents Kara Minar and Eric Ward were each reelected for another three-year term on the Select Board. Abby Besse was reelected to the School Committee, where she will be joined by new member Elizabeth Nees. Gail Coolidge will serve another term as a library trustee, and Rebecca Brown will join that board as a new member. Michael Kilian was reelected as a trustee for the Warner Free Lecture board. He received 461 votes, making him the largest vote-getter of the day. And Steve Richter also won a place on the Warner Free Lecture board as a write-in candidate.
Tuesday’s turnout was light, but by no means the lowest among recent town elections. (See table, below.) The 561 people who voted Tuesday are just under 12% of Harvard’s 4,776 registered voters.
Voting started at 8 a.m. with about 50 people coming in the first hour, many after dropping off their children at the school. After several slow morning hours, voting picked up again after lunchtime. The busiest period was in the last three hours, from 5 to 8 p.m., with the last voter arriving at a run just one minute before the polls closed.
Asked what brought them to the polls, a few voters chosen at random all cited a sense of public duty. A man who was among the earliest to arrive said, “I always vote—nothing special today.” Another man said simply, “Civic responsibility.”
“I generally try to vote in every election,” one woman said. “It feels like the right thing to do. We live here, and we should support the town.”