SOUTH HADLEY — Two incumbents were unseated from their positions following the annual town election Tuesday night.
Of the nine offices appearing on all precinct ballots, more than half were contested races, including two seats each on the Select Board and School Committee.
Incumbents were unseated in races for the School Committee and the Board of Health.
Approximately 14 percent of the town’s 11,042 registered voters turned out to cast their ballots at the South Hadley High School.
School Committee member Barry Waite was unseated by Carly Kite Lapinski. Lapinski will serve alongside five-year veteran Eric Sarrazin.
Lapinski received 802 votes, Sarrazin 759 votes, Waite 598 and first-time candidate Kyle Belanger received 478 votes.
Hearing the result of the votes at the Town Hall, Lapinski called the result “surreal.”
“I’m thrilled,” she said. “I’ve learned so much already and I’m really excited to get started.”
Also at the Town Hall, Sarrazin said he was very relieved and happy.
“I’m very humbled and honored that the citizens of South Hadley feel confident in my abilities,” he said.
Newcomer Andrea Miles will join Sarah Etelman on the Select Board.
“I am thrilled and I’m so excited to get to work with the already fantastic members on the Select Board that I’ve had an opportunity to meet with,” Miles said. “I’m ready to get down to work.”
Miles garnered 813 votes while Etelman earned 914. First-time candidate Scott Moore took home 773 votes.
Etelman echoed Miles’ sentiment.
“I am thrilled. I think that the Select Board is going to be stronger and is going to benefit from … two women on that board,” she said. “I could not be happier to have Andrea as a partner on the Select Board.”
In a close race, Dr. Diane Dietzen unseated Dr. Michael Rosner from the Board of Health, receiving 683 votes to his 675 votes.
While the votes were close, Town Clerk Carlene C. Hamlin told those gathered in the clerk’s office to hear the results that there were only two write-in votes for the race.
All three incumbents for South Hadley Public Library board of trustees — David Morrell, Susan Obremski-Crowther and Gillian Woldorf — won re-election.
Diane Supczak Mulvaney will join the Planning Board after earning 836 votes against Larry Butler’s 450 votes.
Robert Robertson will begin his 50th year as a Town Meeting member after winning a one-year term in Precinct B.
Both nonbinding ballot questions passed by a sizable margin.
Question 1 passed by 1,123 votes to 268. The article would establish the town’s position “that tough, new anti-corruption laws for politicians, lobbyists, and outside groups such as Super PACs are necessary in order to protect and promote the First Amendment free speech rights of all citizens, regardless of wealth, and to restore ordinary Americans as the most important stakeholders in government instead of major donors.”
Question 2, calling for a ban on single-use plastic bags, passed by 921 to 552. The question was brought before a special Town Meeting in January, where it failed to pass. The Select Board then voted to place the question before the voters at the April election.
In reading the results, Hamlin said the totals are not yet official. She added that there were five more days to accept absentee ballots although about 99.9 percent of them were already turned in.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.