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Jun 19, 2023

Taunton election 2023: Preliminary canceled, what to know for November

TAUNTON — Election season is upon the city of Taunton. Here is information every voter needs to know leading up to the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 7. This year the city does not have a

TAUNTON — Election season is upon the city of Taunton.

Here is information every voter needs to know leading up to the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

This year the city does not have a preliminary election, which would have been in September, because there aren't enough candidates in any of the races to trigger one.

That's because one of the three mayoral candidates dropped out on the last day to withdraw, leaving just two vying for the seat in the general election.

In addition to mayor, there are four elected boards in Taunton: Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, School Committee and the Taunton Municipal Light Plant Commission.

Changes to the city's charter are also on the ballot.

The terms "primary" and "preliminary" election sound similar but describe different types of elections. Primaries are within a political party, with voters choosing which candidate will represent that party in a general election.

"Preliminary" elections, on the other hand, refers to non-partisan elections held to winnow down the number of candidates going into general elections. Taunton has non-partisan elections, which means it holds preliminary elections when the number of candidates meets the minimum threshold.

Taunton Elections Department Director Mark Pacheco said the standard formula for triggering a preliminary election is when the number of candidates is at least double the number of seats, plus one — so for a nine-member board, for example, there would need to be 19 candidates to trigger a preliminary election.

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A preliminary election was previously scheduled for late September for the mayoral race because there were expected to be three candidates: Incumbent Shaunna O’Connell; her former chief of staff Ed Correira; and political newcomer Charles Wright.

But Wright dropped out of the race on Aug. 24, the last day to officially withdraw your candidacy and not appear on the ballot.

In his withdrawal letter to the Elections Department, Wright, unfamiliar with the preliminary concept, said he originally thought it was going to be a primary. Calling the preliminary an “antiquated election procedure," he added the late September date of the preliminary wouldn’t have given him sufficient time for the people of Taunton to get to know him.

So that leaves just two candidates, not enough to trigger a preliminary, going head to head this November: O’Connell and Correira.

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Eleven candidates, including all nine incumbents, will be vying for the nine seats on the City Council:

The nine incumbents are: Estele Borges, Phillip Duarte, David Pottier, Christopher Coute, Lawrence Quintal, Kelly Dooner, John McCaul, Jeffrey Postell and Barry Sanders.

The two challengers are: Scott Martin and Edna Isaac.

There will be 13 candidates total, including seven incumbents, vying for the eight seats on the School Committee.

The seven incumbents seeking re-election are: Gregory DeMelo, Christine Fagan, Gill Enos, Louis Loura, Steven Vieira, Nathan Pawlowski and Derek George.

The six challengers are: Melissa Santos, Heather Baylies-Grigoreas, Tanya Lobo, Charlene Fiore, Donna Chaves and Julie Ochs.

Longtime School Committee member and former City Councilor Jordan Fiore is not running for re-election to the school board — but he is running as a challenger for the Zoning Board of Appeals.

There will be 10 candidates total, five of them incumbents, vying for the seven seats on the Planning Board.

The five incumbents running for re-election are: Anthony Abreau, Dennis Ackerman, Manuel Spencer Jr., Brian Carr and John Reardon. Incumbents Robert Campbell and Michael Monteiro are not running for re-election.

The five challengers are: George Moniz Jr., Scott Rodrigues, Michael Yurkovskiy, William Fitzgerald Jr. and Kelly Dooner, who is also running for re-election to her City Council seat.

There will be 12 candidates total, six of them incumbents, vying for the five regular seats and two alternate positions on the Zoning Board. The seventh incumbent, longtime ZBA member Wayne Berube, recently died.

The six incumbents seeking re-election are: Dennis Ackerman, Steven Vieira, George Moniz Jr., Craig Faria, Seth Turner and John Joyce.

The six challengers are: Scott Rodrigues; Karen Grossi-Pemberton; Timothy Silvia Jr.; John Doherty; Christopher Coute, who is also seeking re-election to his City Council seat; and Jordan H.F. Fiore, who is not seeking re-election to his School Committee seat.

Five candidates total, two of them incumbents, will be vying for the three seats on the Taunton Municipal Light Plant Commission. Longtime incumbent Mark Blackwell Sr. died on Jan. 31. Bruce Thomas is currently serving as the third commissioner, according to the commission's website.

The two incumbents who are running for re-election are: Peter J. Corr and Timothy Hebert.

The three challengers are: Gregory DeMelo, who is also running for re-election to the School Committee; Jonathan Gray; and William Strojny.

Voters will also decide on whether to update the city’s charter.

Proposed changes include:

The vote is an all-or-nothing decision. You can’t vote on each individual proposed change.

Voters can read about the charter and the proposed changes on the city’s website.

Friday, Oct. 27, by 5 p.m. is the last day and hour to register to vote, change party affiliation, or change your address for the general election on Nov. 7.

Registered voters can vote in person on Election Day at their designated polling locations. This information can be found online at Taunton’s Elections Department’s website, through the state’s Elections Division website, or by calling your Elections Department office.

All Taunton residents registered to vote qualify for early voting, which is done through mail-in ballot.

A vote-by-mail application has to be filled out and submitted to the Taunton’s Elections Department at City Hall. An application for mail-in voting can be found online at the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s website.

Absentee ballot voting is for people who won’t be in Taunton, for whatever reason, on election day, have a disability that keeps them from being able to physically get to the polls, or have a religious reason for not voting in person. An application for an absentee ballot can also be found online through the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s website.

The completed, signed vote-by-mail or absentee ballot application can be returned to the Elections Department in person, by mail to their office in City Hall, or by scanning and emailing the application to: [email protected]. Voters may also go to the Elections Department in City Hall and fill out vote-by-mail or absentee ballot applications in person.

Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m., is the deadline to submit a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot application.

Monday, Nov. 6 at noon is the deadline to vote absentee in person, to be submitted to the Elections Department in City Hall.

No mail-in or absentee ballots can be filed at the polls on election day. They have to either be mailed or hand delivered to the Elections Department or deposited in the drop box in the back entrance outside of City Hall.

All inquires can be directed to your Elections Department Office, located in Taunton City Hall, or by calling them at 508-821-1044.