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Date: 11/13/2023
EASTHAMPTON — On Nov. 7 voters cast their ballots for new members of the City Council and the School Committee.
For City Council at-large, Owen Zaret, Koni Denham and Brad Riley all maintained their seats in an uncontested race. Jason “JT” Tirrell was elected to the position vacated by David Meunier, who did not seek re-election.
In precincts 1-4, incumbents were uncontested, with James “JP” Kwiecinski, current council President Homar Gomez, Thomas Peake and Salem Derby all retaining their respective positions.
For precinct 5, incumbent Daniel Rist announced previously that he would not be seeking re-election, so former City Councilor Tamara Smith squared off with newcomer Jared Hinkle for the seat. Smith won with a 373-221 margin.
For School Committee, 10 candidates vied for six seats. The candidates for the committee were incumbents Megan Harvey and Ben Hersey, appointees Sam Hunter and Laura Scott, along with newcomers Lynda Broadhurst, Timothy St. John, Eric Guyette, Linda Markee, Raymond Sliz and Patricia Covalli. Hersey, Harvey, Hunter, Scott, Guyette and Markee were elected to the seats, with 1,749, 1.668, 1,703, 1,750, 1,500 and 1,506 votes respectively. Broadhurst, St. John, Sliz and Covalli received 876, 1,492, 959 and 797 votes respectively. Current School Committee Chair Cynthia Kwiecinski and member Marin Goldstein did not seek re-election.
Also on the ballot was a question asking residents to vote on the expansion of ranked choice voting to include multi-winner races. Under ranked choice voting, voters rank the candidates in order of preference, rather than picking just one candidate or the required number of candidates for a multi-seat race. Currently, ranked choice voting is only used to determine the winners of single-winner races, including mayor or precinct City Council seats. The question passed with a 1,721-1,066 margin, so for future elections, all available seats will be conducted via ranked choice voting.
Back in the spring, a convention of the School Committee and City Council used ranked choice voting to fill two vacancies on the School Committee after the resignation of former members Laurie Garcia and Shannon Dunham.
This year’s election saw 22% of registered voters go out to cast their ballots. The 2022 state election saw a turnout of 62% and the previous city election for City Council and School Committee in 2019 saw a voter turnout of 35%. The 2023 city election drew the lowest voter turnout since 2015, a year that saw 17% of voters cast a ballot.
All positions elected during this election are four year terms and begin in January 2024.