Brookline Election Results: Fernandez Wins, Override Fails

BROOKLINE, MA — Voter turnout on Tuesday was a bit higher than predicted. At the end of the day and an evening rush, 9,802 of the 37,179 registered voters showed up to vote. That's 26.4 percent voter turnout.

At 6 p.m., some 20.9 percent of registered voters had cast ballots, according to the town clerk's office. That was up from 11.6 percent of voters at 1 p.m.

Town Clerk Pat Ward said this is about on par with previous town elections. The last town wide election saw 22.3 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. "We are on target for at least that," he said Tuesday afternoon. "But I don't think it's gonna bust any records."

Records may not have been bust, but it's been a while since Brookline hit 26 percent in a local election. By way of comparison that to Boston's 2013 mayoral election where some 29.7 percent of voters cast ballots, according to a study.

Results:

Select Board: Raul Fernandez was elected to the Select Board.

Taxes: There will be no override: Brookline Voters Just Said No To New Taxes For School Expansions

School Committee: Helen Charlupski and Susan Wolf-Ditkoff looked set to keep their seats and newcomer Sharon Abramowitz pushed School Committee chair David Pollak, who has been wrangling the ninth school project and overcrowding issues at the school.

Housing Authority: It was a tight race here, but incumbent Joanne Sullivan beat out newcommer Deborah Brown by 3,626 vote to 3,491.

Constable: Neil Gordon, Stanley Rabinowitz, Kristine Knauf, Joseph Figler and Regina Frawley take the positions.

Town Meeting Members: To see how Town Meeting Members did, scroll to the bottom.

At the headquarters for the Yes to the override campaign, the vibe was somber:

How it looked at mid day at the polls:

Just before 1 p.m. around town there were no lines at the election sites. At Town hall, there was a steady trickle of voters at the Precinct 4 polling site. At the Tappan Street Gym on Greenough Street the Precinct 6 election hub was quietly processing about four voters.

Outside the gym standing across the street was a who's who of candidates.

"I'm concerned about turnout for our campaign," Select Board candidate Richard Nangle told Patch, adding that the more people who come out to vote the better a chance he'd have.

"Maybe we could pull a surprise. If I win it will be an upset win. If the 'No' campaign wins it will be a cataclysmic upset win," he said.

The Precinct 15 Town Meeting member, who is running on a platform that opposes increased taxes and the school projects, said he voted earlier at his polling location where he felt support from many of the voters, including Robert Kraft.

Nangle said Kraft thanked him for running, and told him he voted for him for both select board and town meeting member.

"He was very nice," said Nangle.

Also outside the high school gym was Select Board candidate Isaac Silberberg, also a Town Meeting member. Spying a prospective voter walking toward the polling location, Silberberg jogged across the street to talk with her.

When he came back after chatting with her, he said she was set on voting for whoever opposed the tax increase, so he recommended she vote for Nangle. He shrugged and told those around him it was the honest thing to do.

"I think it's anybody's race," said Silberberg.

They weren't the only two Select Board Candidates making an appearance at Precinct 6 around lunch time.

Raul Fernandez, also a Town Meeting member, said this was his fourth stop after making calls in the morning to get out the vote.

He said he spoke with a woman earlier who told him she hadn't heard from anyone else running and so would give her vote to him.

"No one knows what's going to happen: It's a three-way race," said Fernandez. "But all the campaigning and all the calls, they add up."

One observation, he noted, was to see how people were working together on the campaign trail.

"It's really cool how it's brought people together," said Fernandez.

State Rep. and Town Meeting Member Tommy Vitolo walked over to the gym to cast his vote, and agrees.

"Because there are some contentious issues, some people feel there is more negativity than in past years. But I see people working together who haven't in the past. I see more cooperation and communication. That's a real opportunity for Brookline," said Vitolo.

RELATED:

• Brookline Town Election 2019: Voter Guide
• Brookline Voters Just Said No To New Taxes For School Expansions
• Election Day In Brookline 2019: Results, Voter Turnout
• Brookline Candidate Endorsed By Ocasio-Cortez Wins

Check out the rest of the results here:

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).