MARBLEHEAD — All three incumbents on the Board of Selectmen were reelected Tuesday in a slow-moving municipal process that saw votes still being tallied late into the night at Abbot Hall.
Going into the town election, all eyes were on the selectmen race, with 14 candidates seeking a seat on the five-member board. Two vacant seats were filled with newcomers, but the rest of the panel saw no change with James Nye, Moses Grader and Jackie Belf-Becker all winning reelection.
Nye led the way with 2,184 votes, Belf-Becker was second with 2,149 votes, and Grader rounded out the top three with 1,985 votes. Erin Noonan, fourth with 1,813 votes, and Alexa Singer, fifth with 1,780 votes, are the new selectmen.
Grader said the night was a historic one, saying that he believes the new Board of Selectmen will be the first majority-women board in Marblehead history.
Having a “core of experience” with the incumbents is important, Grader said, because members learn how to cooperate with other board members while still speaking their mind.
“We just know each other well and we get along very well and I think that’s important for Select Board,” Grader said.
Two ballot questions also highlighted the annual town election.
Question 1 was regarding the purchase of a new fire truck while Question 2 involved the renovation, remodeling and replacing of infrastructure of Abbot Public Library. Questions 1 and 2 both passed, with ‘yes’ votes receiving an overwhelming majority.
The buzz of election night filled the air at the Abbot Hall Tuesday night as a crowd gathered to wait while ballots were tallied by hand. By midnight, the town had still not posted results, but those who lingered at Abbot late into the night were able to learn the winners as final tallies for each precinct were entered onto a white board.
Carlton Siegal, chair of the Water and Sewer commission, has been a poll worker for more than 30 years and said that he can’t remember a race with so many candidates. In keeping with Marblehead tradition, he was on hand at Abbot Hall to write the results on the giant board as they came in throughout the night.
With the votes unofficially tallied, Grader said he was excited to continue working as he begins his next term. He mentioned specifically working on affordable housing, mental health, and the budget among some other topics.
“I think the other issues are around trying to get our infrastructure, especially our roads squared away and that’s just going to be a matter of finding other sources of capital funding,” he said. “We’re working on it.”
While it was definitely an exciting time for the candidates, Grader said he also believes it’s an exciting time for the town.
“I think we’re happy with the way the town is run,” he said. “I’ve always run on this (belief) that it’s very important to keep the socio-economic diversity of the town because we have benefited from having wealthy benefactors pay a lot of the tax base that allows multi-generational people to stay in town.
“I think it’s very important to be welcoming to new Marbleheaders. Every year, we have new people coming in and I think improving the diversity of those folks coming into town is important. I’m a big believer that you make all new people into Marbleheaders.”