Rochester election results in tie for a School Committee seat

ROCHESTER — While Kate Duggan easily won a seat on the School Committee in a contentious race between four candidates, fellow candidates Barbara Lee and Isabel Gomes-McCann are tied for the second available seat. 

Rochester residents headed to the polls on Wednesday, May 27 to elect multiple candidates for municipal positions, with a total voter turnout of 1133.

Isabel Gomes-McCann initially appeared to be the winner of the second seat, but a hand-counted ballot not included in initial calculations brought the vote to a tie. 

When one voter submitted his ballot during town elections, the tabulator couldn’t read it. By the time poll workers were notified of the error, the man was already long gone. 

Since the ballot needed to be hand counted, it wasn’t included when Town Clerk Marjorie Barrows printed out the night’s results from the tabulator. Only 1132 of the 1133 ballots were included in the original results. 

Duggan received 624 votes while Gomes-McCann and Lee received 544 votes.Stacie Noble Shriver, the fourth candidate running for the seat, received 479 votes. 

Both Gomes-McCann and Lee have filed a recount petition in hopes of breaking the tie. 

If there is still a tie or no clear winner, the vote will go to a special election or appointment by the Select Board.

Duggan said she was relieved after the election and thankful for those who voted for her. 

“It's definitely a relief that it's over and we can really focus on the school and what's important like supporting our teachers and making sure the students have what they need to learn,” Duggan said. 

She said she hopes to use the summer as a time to focus on the budget and get work done even though there will not be regularly scheduled committee meetings. She said she wants to immediately jump into finding more funding opportunities for the school.  

Lee and Shriver declined to comment when approached on election night. 

Beatrice Renalud was reelected as the Tax Collector with 590 votes against Judith Shepley with 181 votes. 

“I am thankful for everybody who voted for me and I really like my job and I'm glad I keep it for three more years,” Renauld said. 

She looks to immediately jump into getting new software up and running that the Tax Collector’s Office introduced. 

Shepley said she was disappointed about the loss, but glad she tried. 

“I'm feeling a little disappointed, but I got out there, I did some door knocking, but I guess I didn't do enough door knocking and good luck to Beatrice,” Shepley said. 

Brian Berube won the position of Park Commission with 438 votes against Kelvin Douglas Sims Sr. with 430 votes.  

Select Board Chair Adam Murphy was reelected with 845 votes and was unopposed. 

Barrows was also reelected for Town Clerk and unopposed with 852 votes. 

Incumbent Marcia Kessler was reelected for the Board of Assessors with 834 votes. 

Incumbent for the Cemetery Commission Timothy Lynch was unopposed and reelected with 868 votes. 

Michael Amato was the incumbent for the Board of Health and reelected with 882 votes. 

Carla Correia and Ann Soares were elected as the Plumb Library Trustees with 799 and 800 votes respectively. 

For the Planning Board, Lee Carr and Marc R. Rousseau Jr. were both reelected with 757 and 797 respectively. 

Newcomer Christopher Gerrior was elected for Water Commission with 859 votes. 

Incumbent Peter Damien McCann was reelected for his position on the Old Rochester Regional School Committee with 790 votes. 

William D. Watling was reelected for Herring Inspector with 930 votes.