Danvers Voter Turnout Tops Last Year, Despite Pandemic

DANVERS, MA —The number of voters to cast ballots in Tuesday's town election in Danvers nearly doubled the number of people who voted a year ago, despite shortened voting hours and the coronavirus crisis.

Officials had made it easier for voters to request absentee ballots and vote by mail in the spring elections in Massachusetts. As a result, 1,796, or 8.76 percent of Danver's 20,499 registered voters cast ballots Tuesday. That was up from last year, when just 4.3 percent of registered voters cast ballots in an election that featured no major, town-wide races.

In the lone, contested town-wide race, Maureen Bernard received 730 votes to defeat Matthew Duggan (570 votes) and Tim Donahue (452 votes) to earn a seat on the board of selectmen. She replaces Diane Langlais, who did not run for reelection.

The only other contested races were for town meeting member:

• In Precinct 2, Donna M. Marden, Ellen Lefavour, Robert Cummings Jr., Mark Hannon, Elizabeth Stockman and David Frazier were elected to town meeting.
• In Precinct 5, the winners were John Duffill III, Walter Tipert III, Mary Depaphilis, Tenley Bevins, Matthew Byrne and Christen Tipert.
• In Precinct 7, Michael Armstrong, Kathleen Ciman, Martha Driscoll, Kevin Wood, James Ciman and Jennifer Churchill were the winners.

See the complete 2020 Danvers municipal election results on the town's Website.