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It was the perfect Election Day — warm and sunny, with a steady stream of residents going into Winchester High School to cast their ballots.
Preliminary results for the March 22 townwide election show 17.2 % of residents voted on Saturday. That’s 2,933 votes cast, out of the town’s 17,073 registered voters.
Last year’s town election yielded 3,094 votes cast.
Town Clerk MaryEllen Marshall said on March 21 that just over 950 residents cast a ballot during the six-day early voting cycle, approximately a 5.5% turnout.
Outside Winchester High School on Saturday afternoon, candidates and supporters said they were excited by the busy polls. Voters added the number of seats, choice of candidates and the tough issues the town faces is what had them coming to vote.
The winners
In the Select Board race, where four candidates competed for two seats, one of which was left open when John Fallon decided to run, the winners were Paras Bhayani with 1,939 votes and incumbent Anthea Brady with 1,641 votes.
Paras Bhayani, left, and Anthea Brady have won election to the Winchester Select Board. Bhayani will replace the outgoing John Fallon while Brady keeps her current seat. COURTESY PHOTOS
Dorothy Simboli and Richard Welch Jr. and received 799 and 670 votes, respectively.
Three candidates vied for two School Committee seats. The day’s winners were Stefanie Mnayarji with 1,952 votes and incumbent Karen Maruyama Bolognese with 1,503 votes.
Incumbent Christian Nixon received 968 votes.
Newcomer Stefanie Mnayarji, left, won her bid for one of the School Committee seats while incumbent Karen Maruyama Bolognese will return to the board. WINCHESTER NEWS STAFF PHOTOS/CHRIS STEVENS
Uncontested races included Winchester’s new town moderator Philip Frattaroli, who garnered 1,931 votes. He replaces Heather von Mering, who is stepping down after five years.
George Nowell Jr. was seeking re-election to the Board of Assessors, Anne Marie Hill for Board of Health to replace Ruth Trimachi who chose not to run again, and David Coughlan for one of two available Library Board of Trustees seats.
Nowell received 1,919 votes, Hill 1,767 votes and Coughlin 1,578 votes.
There were also 507 votes cast as write ins for the second Library Board of Trustees seat, with highest amount coming from Precinct 3.
Two write-in candidates — Jack LeMenager and Matthew Zarracina — appeared in the last days of the election, seeking the open seat on the Planning Board being vacated by Diab Jerius, who chose not to run.
About 1,007 were cast in that race, but no winner has been announced.
While no announced candidate came forward for the open seat at the Housing Authority, there were 352 write-in votes cast for the position.
Read Town Meeting results here.
Marshall in an email stated three townwide positions were “under endorsed” and eligible for write-in candidates during Saturday’s election. She added her office would be evaluating the write-in votes by Monday evening, in order to certify the vote.
Marshall said once the results of the election are final, they will be posted online off the town’s homepage and available by clicking the vote button.
Marshall also said she received confirmation from the Secretary of State Elections Division that Winchester will be able to swear in the winners of the Select Board and School Committee races prior to the certification of all the write ins.
She said the swearing in for candidates is expected by Monday, March 24 before the scheduled Select Board meeting.
