Depressingly low turnout for expensive election
By Susan Motander
With only 11.2% of the registered voters going to the polls on Tuesday, all five incumbents were returned to office. City Clerk Alice Atkins and City Treasurer Steve Baker ran unopposed. Mayor Tom Adams easily defeated challenger Mark Harris with a margin of almost 70%.
Incumbents Larry Spicer and Alexander Blackburn faced only one other candidate, Clifford DeCosta who withdrew from the race, but too late for his name to be removed from the ballot. Despite his withdrawal, DeCosta received 15% of the votes cast. Blackburn received 37.5% of the vote and Spicer 43.3%. Every voter could cast ballots for two candidates.
There are 21, 276 registered voters. The vote by mail far exceeded those who went to the polls. The vote by mail turnout was 1632 (7.6% of those registered) while 767 (3.6%) cast their ballots at the precincts.
According to City Clerk Alice Atkins, the election cast between $80,000 and $90,000. She said she would have the exact cost sometime after the election.
Mark Harris
363 15.7%
Tom Adams
1941 84.2%
Alex Blackburn
1480 37.5%
Clifford DeCosta
751 19.0%
Larry Spicer
1708 43.3%
