UPDATE: Howard Wins Special Election For Board Of Selectmen Seat

NORWOOD, MA - Former Selectman Allan Howard will be returning to the Board of Selectmen after winning Monday's special election, according to unofficial results received by Patch from the Town Clerk's office Monday night at 9 p.m.

The special election occurred to fill the vacancy on the board left by the untimely death of Selectman David Hajjar, who died unexpectedly in his home on Oct. 16. His term would have ended in April, and Howard will fill the seat until a regular election for a full term will take place.

Howard won the three-way contest in an election with only a 8.36% turnout, besting closest challenger Amanda Grow by only 30 votes, 629-599. The third candidate, Matthew J. O'Neil, received 446 votes. Only 1,676 votes were cast. Two other ballots were blank.

In a previous article on Patch, Howard said he "missed the interaction" he previously had on the board with other members and wanted to continue to serve the community in public office. He had been a selectman for nine years and had previously served on a number of town boards and committees.

"Now is the time for experience and not the time for on-the-job training," Howard said. "The late Selectman Hajjar's vacated seat is a big seat to sadly try and fill."

Challenger Amanda Grow, who, like Howard, also intends to run in the regular election in April, had run previously once before unsuccessfully. She currently serves as the vice president of the Norwood League of Women Voters and is a member of the town's Rules Committee. With 25 years of experience in her career in the website development industry, she had hoped to bring her knowledge of cybersecurity to the board, as well as her expertise as a town light commissioner.

No information was submitted to Patch regarding O'Neil's candidacy prior to the election.

Howard, in an interview with Patch Tuesday afternoon, kept his statement to the point.

"I just want to say thank you to all who voted for me," he said. "Now it's time to get to work again. Thanks for the vote of confidence."

In an interview with Patch Tuesday, Grow said that she was "super proud" to have come so close to winning for the second time and wanted to thank all of her supporters for their hard work.

"When I was talking to people about my campaign, they were saying what an organized machine I had," she said. "I was a one-woman show, a relative newcomer who was putting together my own press releases. There really was no machine. It was people who asked me to run who got involved and told their friends, who told their friends. It kept going from there."

She added that the pandemic has played a role in both of her campaigns, preventing her from having the one-on-one engagement with residents, particularly elders.

"A lot of people don't feel safe going to big events, and others won't open the door when you do traditional door-to-door campaigning because of the virus," Grow said. "And the new variant spread really quickly. I cannot tell you the number of people who participated in standouts for me who couldn't go to the polls because either they or their spouse or children had COVID."

She added that it was a bad time to hold the election at the end of the holiday season, while the new variant is considered to be very contagious.

"But I totally understand it," she explained. "If they did it in November, they would have run into Thanksgiving. If they did it a couple of weeks earlier, you are right in the holiday season. If it was much later, the person would only be serving for a month or so. There had to be an election because there was going to be a vacancy for three months, so I think they were trying to get it as close to allowing the new person to serve the full three months as possible."

Losing by such a small margin is giving Grow the momentum to charge toward the April election with confidence, she noted.

"People got to see that she's really smart, she's really capable, and that she's super invested in the community," Grow said of herself. "They know I have a really strong skill set. I am definitely running in April."

She also said this election was different from her past experience not only because it was a special election but also because the rules were different. The pols, usually open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., were open this time from noon until 8 p.m. She also said people never expected to be sick enough to need to have filled out absentee ballots.

"This time, so many people got sick right after Christmas," Grow said. "Last time, the election was in June and the situation was different, with case counts going down."

According to Grow, her biggest hope for her upcoming run is to be able to engage more with elders, who have been experiencing isolation during the pandemic.

"I want to hang out with my senior friends and get to make some new ones," she said. "They have such a wealth of knowledge about the town. And they don't appreciate getting a flier or a call. They really want to fully engage with a candidate and be able to ask them questions."

As for the tenor of the election, Grow said "everybody was super respectful and pretty chill."

"I spoke to Allan after the results came in," she added. "He said, 'I really underestimated you.'"