Voters in Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst and Holyoke will head to the polls Tuesday, with council and school committee races to be decided in each community, and contested races for mayor in both Northampton and Easthampton.
Northampton will see the final results of a highly active election season, as incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and much of the City Council will try to fend off challengers to their respective positions.
Running against Sciarra is Jillian Duclos, who like many other candidates in this election has been endorsed by an upstart advocacy group known as Support Our Schools (SOS). A related political action committee, the Support Our Schools and Services PAC, has also played a role in supporting candidates they see as dedicated to greater support for the school district after the mayor’s last two fiscal budgets led to reductions in staff and services.
Several council candidates running in the election, such as Al Simon in Ward 2 and Luke Rotello in Ward 5, have campaigned against the mayor’s school policies, as they go up against Deb Klemer and Aline Davis, respectively. In Ward 3, candidate Laurie Loisel, who has spoken more positively of the mayor’s administration, will try to unseat incumbent Quaverly Rothenberg, who in her first term on the council emerged as one of the mayor’s strongest critics. Ward 4’s Jeremy Dubs is the only candidate running unopposed for council this year.
In Ward 1, Michele Ronco will square off against Gwen Nabad, while longtime incumbent Marianne Labarge will take on challenger Chris Stratton in Ward 6. Ward 7’s incumbent Rachel Maiore, endorsed by SOS, faces a challenger in Susan Timberlake. The at-large race features four candidates, Garrick Perry, Benjamin Spencer, Deb Henson and Meg Robbins, vying for two spots.
The School Committee has only two competitive races in this year’s election, but is still facing a dramatic makeover with seven of the committee’s nine members not seeking reelection to their current position. Only Ward 2’s Anat Weisenfreund (who faces a challenger in Angela Wack) and Ward 4’s Michael Stein (who is unopposed but faces a write-in campaign from Megan Wolf) are running again for their current seats, while Ward 3 committee member Emily Serafy-Cox is running for an at-large seat, with Tiffany Jewell and Robbie Saner Sullivan also running for at-large.
Polling locations are at Jackson Street School for Ward 1, Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School for Ward 2, the Northampton Senior Center for Wards 3 and 4, the Florence Civic Center and Smith Vocational for Ward 5, Ryan Road School for Ward 6 and JFK Middle School and Leeds Elementary for Ward 7.
Easthampton to get new mayor, councilors
Easthampton voters will see a new mayor after eight years and at least four new city council members, in an election not like any the city has seen in its history.
Polls will be open for Easthampton voters at Easthampton High School, 70 Williston Ave., from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Once polls close, votes will be tabulated by the City Clerk’s office and unofficial results are planned to be announced later that night.
Through ranked-choice voting, voters will be asked to rank the three mayoral candidates in their order of preference. The candidates are mayoral Executive Assistant Lindsi Sekula, City Councilor At-Large Jason “JT” Tirrell and Interim Mayor Salem Derby.
Sekula was the first to announce her candidacy followed by Tirrell, then Derby. The next official mayor will be the fourth for Easthampton, following Nicole LaChapelle, who resigned this summer before her term expired at the end of the year, Karen Cadieux and Michael A. Tautznik.
Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank as many candidates desired in order of preference, though they do not have to include each one. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they win outright. However, if nobody gets a first-place majority, then the candidate with the least amount of votes will be eliminated and another round of vote counting will begin. Voters who ranked the eliminated candidate first on their ballot will instead have their vote count for the candidate they ranked second, if they listed one. If not, their vote will not be counted.
This process continues until one of the candidates receives the majority of votes, therefore being elected. Ranked-choice voting applies to single-seat positions in Easthampton including the mayor and precinct councilors.
There will be four at-large seats to fill on the council, with Koni Denham being the only incumbent seeking reelection. Denham will run against four challengers including newcomers Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid, Nathan Markee, Jonathan Schmidt and Karl Prahl. With three of the current at-large councilors not seeking reelection, at least three new faces will take a seat.
Incumbents James “JP” Kwiecinski of Precinct 1 and Felicia Jadczak of Precinct 2 are running unchallenged
Within the last week, resident Joy Winnie announced she is running a write-in campaign against Thomas Peake of Precinct 3, though her name will not be listed on the ballot.
There will be a new Precinct 4 councilor, with candidates Robert “Bob” Peirent and Amanda Newton running for the seat. The seat is currently occupied by Derby, who originally filed for the position until announcing he would run for mayor.
Precinct 5 incumbent Tamara Smith will run against one challenger, Cathy Wauczinski.
There are seven seats on the School Committee, including the mayor. In addition to Derby, current members include Laura Scott, Megan Ward Harvey, Linda Sue Markee, Sam Hunter, Eric Guyette and Timothy St. John.
St. John is the only member not running for reelection. The new candidates that’ve emerged are Bonnie Atkins, Allison Malinowski and Paul McNeil.
Voters will be asked to select six School Committee members.
Amherst features contested races
In Amherst, where there are contests for 11 of the 13 seats on the town council and all five of the seats on the school committee, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at various locations.
The voting sites are the North Amherst Library, 8 Montague Road, for Precinct 1-A; Immanuel Lutheran Church, 867 North Pleasant St., for Precinct 1-B; Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, 21 Mattoon St., for Precincts 2-A, 3-A, 4-A and 4-B; Fort River School, 70 South East St., for Precinct 2-B; Crocker Farm School, 280 West St., for Precinct 3-B; Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk, for Precinct 5-A; and Munson Memorial Library, 1046 South East St., for Precinct 5-B.
All voters will choose from four candidates running to be the three at-large councilors, incumbents Mandi Jo Hanneke and Ellisha May Walker and challengers Andrew Churchill and Charlotte Allegra Rice Clark.
All voters will also get to pick from among six candidates running for five school committee seats, incumbents Bridget A. Hynes, Deborah Lee Leonard and Sarah A. Marshall and challengers Esther Azar, Andrew W. Hart and Laura Jane Hunter.
Ten additional Town Council members will be elected across five districts, though there are only contests in Districts 1-4.
In District 1, incumbents Ndifreke Ette and Cathy Schoen are being challenged by Jillian Brevik and Vincent J. O’Connor.
In District 2, incumbent Lynn Griesemer is being challenged by Amber Lee Caon-Martin and Jason Michael Dorney.
In District 3, incumbents Heather Hala Lord and George E. Ryan are being challenged by Patrick Drumm.
In District 4, incumbents Pamela Susan Rooney and Jennifer Lynn Taub are being challenged by Dillon Maxfield.
There is no contest for the two seats in District 5, where incumbent Ana Mary Devlin Gauthier and newcomer Samuel A. MacLeod are running.
All six incumbent Jones Library trustees are running unopposed and there are also no contests for the Amherst Housing Authority and elector under the Oliver Smith Will.
No mayor race, but still competition in Holyoke
Unlike in Easthampton and Northampton, Holyoke Mayor Joshua A. Garcia is running unopposed for reelection.
But there are contests, with nine candidates competing for six at-large city council seats. They are incumbents Patricia C. Devine, Howard B. Greaney Jr., Kevin Andrew Jourdain, Tessa R. Murphy-Romboletti, Israel Rivera and Michael J. Sullivan and newcomers Christopher Dunay, Jennifer M. Keit and Mimi Panitch.
In Ward 1, the city council race is between incumbent Jenny Rivera and challenger Victor Machado.
In Ward 3, the city council race is between incumbent David K. Bartley and challenger Anne Thalheimer.
In Ward 4, the city council race is between newcomers Peter Diaz Jr. and Richard Paul Purcell.
In Ward 2, newcomer Nicole Marie Maisonet, and in Ward 5 incumbent Linda L. Vacon, are running unopposed.
For Ward 5 school committee, the only contest for the panel, is between Jens Michaelsen and Aida Luz Oquendo Oquendo.