MARION — Voters in Marion made their voices heard on election day, Friday, May 12 and reelected three incumbents in two contested races, according to unofficial vote counts.   

Margaret McSweeny retained her seat on the Old Rochester Regional School Committee while Mary Beauregard and Nichole Nye McGaffey both won their reelection bids to the Marion School Committee. 

McSweeny won with 469 votes, beating out challenger Jennifer Stewart. 

“I’m just really glad that it turned out this way,” said McSweeny on election night. “I’m happy to win and continue to do the work that I think is so valuable for this district.”

Stewart took home 190 votes. 

“I want to thank everybody who came out to support and vote for me — I’m grateful for those who did,” said Stewart. “But I do still feel like there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and as a parent I will continue to be vocal.”

In the race for Marion School Committee, voters could cast their ballots for two candidates. McGaffey and Beauregard both retained their seats on the school committee with 479 and 460 votes respectively. Running against them was Mirian Nawoichik, who secured 167 votes. 

“I’d like to thank the voters of Marion for their support,” said McGaffey. “I’m honored by the opportunity to continue serving this great community and to continue working with and supporting our amazing administration, teachers, and staff.”

Beauregard is “so grateful that Marion voters decided to let me continue serving. Thank you to those who value and support our work.” 

“I’m going to keep on trying for next year,” said Nawoichik. “Good luck to [those] who got elected.”

All other races in the Marion town election were uncontested. 

Incumbent Norm Hills was elected to the Marion Select Board with 532 votes. 

Patricia Ann DeCosta was elected to the Board of Assessors with 545 votes alongside Peter Winters with 523 votes. 

Albin Johnson was elected to the Board of Health with 521 votes. 

Eileen Marum, Ryan Burke and William Dale Jones were elected to the planning board with 444, 460 and 390 votes respectively. 

Finally, the Open Space Acquisition Committee, who had no candidates on the ballot, had 63 write-in votes that were not tallied as of press time. 

According to Marion Town Clerk Lissa Magauran, voter turn out was “slow” throughout the day. 

From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., only 671 of Marion’s total 4,459 registered voters turned out to the polls, said Magauran. This represented a voter turnout of approximately 15%.