By Paul Tuthill
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Springfield, MA – Voters are trickling to the polls for municipal preliminary elections in Massachusetts today.. WAMC"s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports
Voter turnout was said to be lower than normal at the bellwether princincts monitored by Springfield Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola . Signs of an active get out the vote effort in parts of the city where turnout is historically poor had her sticking with a prediction of a paltry ten percent voter turnout..
Three veteran politicians are running for mayor in Springfield. Two term incumbent Mayor Domenic Sarno, City Council President Jose Tosado and long time school committee member Antonette Pepe. The top two vote getters today move onto the November 8th Election Day ballot. This is the first time the mayoral term in Springfield will be four years.
People who did show up to vote today said they were dismayed by the apathy of others
In Holyoke where four candidates for mayor are competing for the top two spots to advance to the November Election, voter turnout was forecast by the city clerk to be comparatively robust 22 percent. Holyoke's first woman mayor, Elaine Pluta is trying for a second term. She's opposed by Daniel Boyle, Daniel Burns and Alex Morse, who at 22 is making his first run for elected office.
Voters in Springfield today are also reducing the field of candidates for at-large city council. 13 candidates, including four incumbents qualified for today's ballot. The top ten vote getters today move on.
Two years after Springfield ushered in ward council representation following decades of fights over it at the ballot box and in the federal courts, there is a contest in only one of the city's 8 wards. Six incumbents are running un opposed.
Voters also go to the polls today for a special primary in the 3rd Berkshire District seat in the Massachusetts House. Winners in the Democratic and Republican primaries will advance to the special election on Oct. 18 to fill the vacancy left by the resignation in July of Christopher Speranzo after he was appointed clerk magistrate of Central Berkshire District Court.