Receiving roughly 60% of the vote, Planning Board Chair Taylor Yates was elected Tuesday night to serve a three-year term on the Select Board.
According to unofficial results, Yates received 2,525 votes to Paul Joy’s 1,736 votes. Joy currently serves as chair of the Economic Development Committee.
“[My] number one reaction is gratitude,” Yates said Tuesday night. “Gratitude to my campaign team … they were in the trenches with me the whole time; gratitude to all of our volunteers and donors that gave us what we needed to get this campaign over the finish line; gratitude for all the voters for affirming a positive vision for Belmont’s future, and of course, gratitude to my family who really pulled together to support me on this.”
In a statement, Joy congratulated Yates on his victory. He thanked the town clerk’s office for a smooth election and the League of Women Voters and the Pan Asian Coalition for their candidate panels. He also thanked his campaign team’s effort for their work leading up to the election.
“This election didn’t turn out the way I, my team and those who voted for me had hoped,” he wrote. “But that does not mean that my work for Belmont will come to an end. I am a Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member. I remain committed to helping to build community across Belmont based on the core foundational principles of democracy and shared governance.”
According to the Town Clerk’s office, 4,470 ballots were cast out of 18,970 registered voters for a turnout of 23.6%. Yates said he’d hoped to see more voters at the polls.
“Turnout was lower than I expected and I hope we as a town can find ways to encourage more turnout,” Yates said. “Not everybody in the world gets to vote so it’s a pretty precious right we have here.”
The moderator race was much closer, with unofficial results showing Michael Crowley besting Mark Paolillo by 11 votes. With a few ballots still to be counted, including hand-counted ballots, military ballots, and write-ins, Crowley noted the race still could “go either way,” but declined further comment.
In total, Crowley took 2,129 votes, compared to Paolillo’s 2,118.
In the race for School Committee, Zehra Abid-Wood and Brian Palmer were elected to serve three-year terms, with 3,213 votes and 2,797 votes, respectively, according to unofficial results. Candidate Michael Todd Thompson received 1,125 votes.
“I’m thrilled. I’m really, really happy, and I’m hopeful that now the work can begin,” Abid-Wood said from Town Hall Tuesday night, where election results were called. “I think there’s been a lot of really good work done with the school committee.”
She said she is ready to serve where the committee needs her.
“My goal is to watch and learn and absorb,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of research going into this, a lot of context for what’s happening with the school committee. I see my role as other members of the school committee to be there as a voice for the community, and to both support school administration, the district administration, and to hold them accountable to deliver on what they say they will do great.”
For the Board of Health, Julie Lemay was elected to serve a three-year term with 3,103 votes, compared to Michael Todd Thompson’s 677.
Edward Barker and Tara Donner were elected to serve three-year terms as a Trustee of the Public Library with 2,301 votes and 2,233 votes, respectively. Mark Carthy received 2,156 votes.
Unofficial Ballot Totals
The numbers available are unofficial totals from the precincts and ballots tabulated in advance – no hand-counted, military, or write-in ballots.
Moderator
- Crowley 2,129
- Paolillo 2,118
Select Board
- Joy 1,736
- Yates 2,525
Board of Health
- Lemay 3,103
- Thompson 677
Trustee of the Library
- Carthy 2,156
- Barker 2,301
- Donner 2,233
School Committee
- Abid-Wood 3,213
- Palmer 2,797
- Thompson 1,125
Eli Cloutier is a Boston University student working with The Voice as part of a partnership between the Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.