NORTHAMPTON —Voters will head to the polls Thursday for the final round of a special election to fill an empty City Council seat.
Candidates Ryan O’Donnell and Marlene A. Morin are vying for the at-large seat vacated abruptly by Jesse Adams in May.
Every precinct in the city will be open for voting from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the city clerk’s office.
In a July 7 preliminary election, only 10.3 percent, or 2,090 of the city’s 20,423 registered voters cast ballots. O’Donnell was the top vote-getter with 1,444 votes. Morin came in second with 307 votes. Candidates Andrew B. Smith and Blue M. DuVal were knocked from the race, receiving 216 votes and 104 votes, respectively.
O’Donnell is the current Ward 3 City Councilor and the council’s vice president. Morin is a longtime Northampton lawyer who served on the Community Preservation Committee from 2011 to 2015.
In July, City Clerk Wendy Mazza told the Gazette the preliminary election cost the city $20,524.04. She anticipates the Aug. 4 election cycle will cost about the same amount, if not a little less because the city ordered fewer absentee ballots than in July.
She said the combined $40,000 for the special election includes printing ballots and voter lists, vote machine coding, paying election workers and paying overtime to office staff.