Massachusetts Election Day 2019: Voters To Decide Local Races

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, and for voters in dozens of communities across Massachusetts that means heading to the polls to select mayors, city councilors, school committee members and others elected officials. Thirty-four of the 58 communities with municipal elections will be electing mayors, including in Attleboro, Braintree, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Somerville and Worcester.

"As I've traveled the state over recent months, it seems when you speak to local officials or candidates running for local offices, almost invariably the first thing they talk about is development," Secretary of State William Galvin said Monday. "In some cases, it's the lack of housing development. In some cases it's about the nature of the development that's going on and the effect it's having on their existing communities."

Patch will be updating live election results as soon as they are available. Subscribe to your local Patch for free and be the first to get the results.

You can find your polling location here.

Here are some things to keep an eye on:

There are guaranteed to be some new mayors, including in Fall River, where voters will begin moving on from Jasiel Correia. The 27-year-old mayor finally stepped away from office in October — though he still holds the title of mayor — after pleading not guilty to nearly two dozen federal charges twice over the course a year.

Melrose voters will choose a new mayor for the first time since 2001 as State Rep. Paul Brodeur and at-large City Councilor Monica Medeiros look to succeed Mayor Gail Infurna, who took office after Rob Dolan left the post for Lynnfield midway through his term. Melrose will also be reshuffling its City Council, with anywhere from seven to 10 new Councilors of the 11-member legislative body.

In Braintree, voters will be electing only their second mayor ever as Mayor Joseph Sullivan retires. Sullivan has been in the office since the town switched from Selectmen to a Mayor-City Council system in 2008.

Brodeur isn't the only mayoral candidate who would be leaving Beacon Hill. State Sen. Don Humason is on the ballot in Westfield and State Rep. Shaunna O'Connell is on the ballot in Taunton.

A Republican-leaning political action committee backed by some of Massachusetts' biggest companies has supported about 15 candidates running in city-level races in Massachusetts. In some instances, the Massachusetts Majority Independent Expenditure PAC is playing an outsized role. The PAC is an independent group whose spending is out of the control of individual candidates.

At least two people who died recently will be on ballots. Barnstable Town Council President Jim Crocker and Worcester at-large School Committee member Brian O'Connell both died in October. Their names cannot be removed from the ballot because they had already been printed and mailed to absentee voters. Each vote they receive would be recorded as a "tribute," according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office. If they were to win, the runner-up will be elected.

In Woburn, long-time incumbent Mayor Scott Galvin faces a challenge from realtor Liz Pedrini, who argues that city services have not kept pace with the development the city has seen over recent years, even as the city's finances are the best they've ever been.

Waltham voters will head to the polls to choose whether Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, who became mayor in 2004, will become the longest-serving mayor in Waltham history or if Councilor Diane LeBlanc will take over.

There is also are also loaded City Council races in Boston and Newton.

Neal McNamara, Jenna Fisher, Chris Huffaker, and Jimmy Bentley, Patch, contributed to this report