Although the results from Tuesday night indicate that voters chose Republicans for the new Town Council, mail ballots still could affect the race. Only 34 votes separated Republican Joseph Robicheau from Democratic incumbent James Seveney after voting concluded Tuesday.
Republicans claimed a majority on the Town Council with two incumbents, Hubert “Huck” Little (who got the most votes of all candidates) and Peter McIntyre voted back in, and three new councilors added: Jeffrey Plumb, Keith Hamilton and, for now, Mr. Robicheau.
Republican Town Committee Chairman Frank Oliveira said he was happy with his “Republican five” on the Town Council. All five Republicans who ran for Town Council got the vote.
“I thought we were going to take four (seats),” Mr. Oliveira said. “But five is really good.”
Mr. Little chalked up winning the most voter support to the 26 years he’s served on the Town Council and his six years as a state representative.
Voters “really know who I am,” Mr. Little said. “I work a lot behind the scenes. They had a lot of trust in me.”
Council President Dennis Canario was the sole Democrat to make it back on the council. Three incumbent Democrats were voted out, but two — James Seveney and Leonard Katzman — could catch up to the last winner after mail-in ballots are counted. State mail-in ballots results could be revealed today, according to the state Board of Elections.
“I’m not happy for my party’s performance,” Mr. Katzman said, adding that he is waiting to hear the mail-in votes. “It’s possible we could pick up one or two seats.”
When asked why he thought voters decided to change the majority party on the Town Council, Mr. Katzman said, “I think perhaps the Democrats were attacked on our position on sewers, which was misrepresented. Many said we favored sewers, which wasn’t true.”
And Karen Gleason remains the only Independent with a seat on the council.
In the School Committee race, there were only three candidates — all Democrats — on the ballot for the three open spots. Incumbent Sylvia Wedge and Marilyn King took the most votes, with Angela Volpicelli not far behind.
There were write-in candidates for both the Town Council and School Committee races, however, given the number of write-in votes — 431 for Town Council and 1,698 for School Committee — neither of the candidates could have won. Write-in votes are counted by hand in the days following the election.
Portsmouth residents requested 858 mail ballots. The Portsmouth canvassing office could not say how many had been returned with a vote since those ballots are mailed to the state Board of Elections office.1
1) The above story was taken from www.eastbayri.com as reported by Jill Rodriques.