Town of Watertown
A map of Watertown’s Districts: Peach is A, Red is B, Yellow is C, Green is D.
Breaking down the vote by precinct shows where the winners took the Tuesday’s Watertown Election, but even those not elected had their strong points.
The final results can be seen by clicking here. (Check the map above to see the location of each precinct.)
School Committee
The School Committee race, where the two challengers finished one-two, was dominated by Kendra Foley. She won 10 precincts – all but 8 and 9. She got her highest precinct total of 358 in Precinct 4.
Second place finisher Candace Miller got second in nine precincts (all but 1, 2 and 8). Miller won Precinct 8 with 311 votes.
The only other precinct winner was Michael Shepard, who won Precinct 9 with 114 votes. The incumbent did not fare well in other precincts and he wound up fifth in the final results. His highest precinct total was 179 in Precinct 10.
School Committee veteran Eileen Hsu-Balzer claimed the third and final seat. She came in third place in eight precincts (all but 1, 9, 10 and 11). Her best total was in Precinct 4 where she got 278. She was closest to second place in Precinct 6, where she was within one vote of Miller.
Fourth place finisher, incumbent Julie McMahon, came in second in Precincts 1 and 2 and third in Precincts 10 and 11. In Precinct 1 she was just three votes behind Foley. Her best total was in 218 in Precinct 10.
Council President
In a rematch from 2013, the final result was the same, but the margin of victory narrowed for Mark Sideris over Clyde Younger. In 2013, Sideris won by more than 1,500 votes, while this year the margin was 1,067.
Sideris won all 12 precincts, but his best showing was in Precinct 4, the area between Watertown High School and Oakley Country Club, where he received 357 votes and won by 228. He also fared well in Precinct 7 (314) and Precinct 8 (325).
Younger’s best areas were the Westside of town, where he lives. He came within 12 votes in Precinct 10, and within 30 in both Precincts 11 and 12.
Councilors At-Large
Aaron Dushku and Tony Palomba dominated the precinct-by-precinct results, which is not surprising as they were close to each other as the finished first and second in the final results.
Each won six precincts – 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11 went to Dushku, and Palomba won 1, 2, 3, 9, 10 and 12.
Each of the five candidates had their strengths. Patryce Georgopoulos, who came in fifth, tied for first with Palomba in Precinct 2 in her home area – East Watertown.
Fourth place finisher Michael Dattoli did not win any precincts, but got second in Precincts 7 and 10 and third in Precinct 11 where he was only four behind the winner – Dushku.
Susan Falkoff, who got the third most votes, came in second in Precinct 1 (four behind the winner – Palomba) and in Precinct 6. She also came in third in five precincts (3, 4, 5, 8 and 9).
District Councilors
The closest race among District Councilors was in the East End. Incumbent District Councilor Angeline Kounelis won by 83 votes over Bob Erickson.
The candidates tied in Precinct 2 with 135 each, and Erickson was within six votes in Precinct 3 – Kounelis’ home precinct. The difference was Precinct 1, which includes Elm Street and the condo buildings on Coolidge Avenue. She won by 77.
Challenge Lisa Feltner, who won all three precincts in District B to unseat Cecilia Lenk, did particularly well in Precinct 5 – her home precinct – where she got 317 votes and won by 218. She got the most votes, however, in Precinct 4, where she got 327. Lenk fared best in her home area (Precinct 6)where she got 137 votes – just 4 fewer than Feltner.
In District C, incumbent Vincent Piccirilli won all three precincts by wide margins. He fared best in Precinct 7, where he got 346 votes and won by 230 over Rossella Mercuri. He also go 332 votes in Precinct 8. Mercuri got the her biggest vote total in Precinct 8 (129), and was closest in Precinct 9, where she was within 97.
As in 2013, District D Ken Woodland was unopposed in the election. He improved his vote total to 846 in 2015 from 824 in 2013.
Turnout
Despite the heated campaigning and hype leading up to the 2015 election, the turnout came in lower than 2013. This year, 4,585 people cast votes, or 20.48 percent of registered voters. This was 195 fewer than two years ago when 21.26 percent of voters turned up.
Precinct 4 had the highest number of votes cast, 535, and highest percent voter turnout – 27.37 percent. The second most votes cast was in Precinct 10 – 505. However, the second highest turnout was in Precinct 7 where 25.2 percent voted.
Precincts 7 and 8 also had high totals with 499 and 495, respectively.
The lowest turnout was in Precinct 9, where 245 people voted. Precinct 1 only had 247 votes cast.
Read more about the election:
One Incumbent Ousted, Council will Have Two New Faces
See Who Won in the School Committee and Library Trustee Races