Worcester preliminary election results: Matchups set for Nov. 7 municipal election

WORCESTER - The field of candidates for City Council and School Committee was trimmed Tuesday, with 8,703 ballots cast in the city preliminary election.

Voters cut the number of candidates to two for five seats - four on the council and one on the school board.

The voter turnout represents about 9% of registered voters. Turnout is typically low for preliminary elections.

The top vote-getters from Tuesday will appear on the ballot for the Nov. 7 municipal election. A look at the preliminary results:

District 1

Jennifer “Jenny” Pacillo finished with the most votes for District 1 city councilor in Tuesday's preliminary election, with David Peterson a distant second.Pacillo registered 1,545 votes in the unofficial tally, and Peterson picked up 834. The two will face off in the November general election. Larry Shetler finished third with 363 votes, according to the unofficial tally.

Pacillo and Peterson will be seeking their first two-year term in the municipal election.

Pacillo, 41, is the editor of Pulse Magazine and CM Pride, while Peterson, 43, is the Worcester Bravehearts general manager.

“I’m just really thankful for all my volunteers and for everyone who came out to vote,” Pacillo said. “I’m just happy that this has been a really respectful, friendly race and I am looking forward to getting to work and moving into the fall.”

As for what made the difference in her preliminary campaign, Pacillo said, “I’ve been doing my homework and knocking doors all summer. I really like talking to people and listening to residents and being involved. So I am very thankful for this opportunity."

Pacillo, who is a mother of three young children, said with a beaming smile that “moms get it done.”

“I want my kids to go out there and make a difference and be good citizens and good people and I hope this shows them that they can do it.”

Peterson also thanked the people who came out and vote for him.

“We got nine weeks to get out there and meet as many people as possible and show my personality and show my work ethic and show everyone that I am the best choice for District 1,” Peterson said. “There’s a lot of work to do because Jenny has run a very solid campaign so far.”

This is the first time Peterson has run for office.

“I have never run for anything. I never ran for class president, class treasurer. I ran for nothing,” Peterson said. “I focused on academics in high school. I did afterschool math club, afterschool science Olympiad. I learned how to work in television. And I never did anything like this.”

There was no incumbent in the race. After serving on the City Council for five years, District 1 City Councilor Sean M. Rose decided that he would not seek re-election.

Shetler, 71, took the news of his defeat graciously and was pleased that he was able to get the word out on senior citizen issues.

“The voters spoke and that’s OK. That’s how it’s supposed to work,” Shetler said. “I’m still going to be an advocate for seniors and that makes me happy. Hopefully, I will carry on in that department. I think we made a difference.”

— Craig Semon

District 2

Candy Mero-Carlson and Robert Bilotta came out ahead in the preliminary election for District 2 on Tuesday night.

Mero-Carlson and Bilotta were in a three-way race with Philip Palmieri and will be moving on to the general election on Nov. 7.

Mero-Carlson will be seeking her fifth term in the general election.

Mero-Carlson finished first with 720 votes; Bilotta had 584 and Palmieri 320, according to unofficial tallies.

"We're extremely happy with the turnout," said Mero-Carlson. "We worked extremely hard over the last couple of months to make sure the voters came out today. The stakes will be high in November and I’m ready for the challenges ahead of us. We will continue to move the district and the city forward."

"I want to say thank you to all the voters and supporters throughout the campaign," Bilotta said following the results. "I'm looking forward to the next step of the general election and to continuing the work."

He said that the results showed that his "message was resonating" and his campaign had been able to connect with residents. "It was not just about introducing myself and what issues I was focused on, but asking residents about their own concerns for District 2," he said.

— Veer Mudambi

District 4

Luis Ojeda and Katia Norford will advance to November's election to succeed District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera.

The election is Nov. 7.

Ojeda came out on top with 332 votes while Norford came in second with 189, according to unofficial tallies.

The District 4 preliminary election was the most contested race Tuesday with five candidates vying to succeed Rivera. Rounding out the field were Maria Montano, Theodore Kostas and Maureen Schwab.

Kostas came in third with 154 votes followed by Montano with 97 and Schwab with 81.

— Marco Cartolano

District 5

WORCESTER - Incumbent Etel Haxhiaj and challenger Jose Rivera have advanced to the Nov. 7 municipal election for District 5 City Councilor after Tuesday's three-way preliminary election.

Haxhiaj and Rivera came out on top with the most votes. Other District 5 candidate Edson Montero did not receive enough votes to move forward.

Haxhiaj, the director of public education and advocacy at Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, is seeking her second two-year term with city council. Rivera, an assistant chief court officer, is seeking his first bid for public office.

According to unofficial totals, Haxhiaj received 1,665 votes, compared to 1,189 for Rivera and 191 for Montero.

"I'm feeling super excited and very energized," Haxhiaj said. "I'm just really thankful to all the voters of District 5. I think we still have a lot of work to do but I feel pretty grateful tonight."

Rivera, who is also moving onto the November election, said he's "hopeful."

"We're putting in a lot of work. If residents want to see changes in the city they have to get involved. I'm hoping to see a better turnout in the general election."

— Tatum Goetting

School Committee

Nelly Medina and Kathleen Roy will be the Worcester School Committee candidates appearing on the ballot this November for the new District E following Tuesday preliminary election.

The only preliminary School Committee race came down to three candidates, Medina and Roy, as well as John Patrick Reed.

With a new district election system in place, Medina and Roy are vying to be the first School Committee member to represent the new District E in the Nov. 7 municipal election.

A total of 1233 (1,274 with blank votes) votes were cast Tuesday, with Medina receiving 474 votes, Roy receiving 445 votes, and Reed receiving 305, according to unofficial tallies. There were 9 write-in votes, and 41 blank votes.

Previously, all School Committee candidates were elected at-large. But as part of a consent decree, after a coalition of groups, including the local NAACP chapter and Worcester Interfaith, sued the city alleging the previous system was discriminatory, new districts were created.

Now, only two seats are at-large, while the rest are labeled District A through F.

— Jeff Chamer

Election underway

The five-race preliminary election is underway in Worcester, with voters deciding who will advance to the Nov. 7 municipal election.

Polls remain open until 8 p.m. Find your polling site here.

Turnout has been slow at some polling sites since voting began at 7 a.m. Worcester, like many cities, typically sees low voter turnout for preliminaries. The absence of a mayoral preliminary is a factor this year.

Two years ago, turnout was about 10% for the two City Council races that required preliminary elections. In District 1,11% of registered voters went to the polls. In District 5, 9.7% of registered voters cast a ballot.

The noon turnout

Worcester has about 110,000 registered voters.

As of noon Tuesday, about 5,000 ballots had been cast, according to the city clerk's office. That number includes early-voting ballots.

Before voting began Tuesday, more than 3,500 voters had delivered their choices to the city. According to the city clerk's office, 433 people voted in-person during last week's early-voting sessions at Worcester Public Library. Another 3,112 cast ballots through the mail.

Voters have their say

At the Worcester Senior Center, poll workers were seeing few ballot-takers before noon Tuesday. Election official Richard Duffy said: “I think there’s a lack of awareness of the importance of the pre-primary.”

At the Blessed Sacrament Church polling site, part of District 5, Bob and Rachel Kissane were among the 260 voters to cast ballots by 11:15 a.m. Bob Kissane cited the importance of municipal elections, mentioning low turnout but acknowledging that more needs to be done to get people to the polls.

“The city’s doing what they can to get people to vote,” he said. “The people are not blameless. People don’t think (local elections) affect them and it does.”

Another voter at Blessed Sacrament, Jeff Levering, said he was backing incumbent Etel Haxhiaj. He explained: “I’m really interested in the housing issue. It seems like the people who have been living here for a long time and have jobs here are being forced out because of economics. I don’t think the City Council is working hard enough to get Realtors to have affordable housing as part of the development.”

Former mayor weighs in

As city voters return to the polls for Tuesday's preliminary elections, four city politics watchers weighed in on whether 2023 is the year there will be more interest in local elections and the big issues on voters' minds.

Former Mayor Joseph O'Brien, who serves as political and legislative director for the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, said this year is interesting because it is the first under the new School Committee election map, where the majority of School Committee candidates are running for specific district seats — District A through F — rather than all at-large.

O'Brien said it is the first time in his memory where interest in district races for City Council has been as "vigorous." All the City Council district seats are contested this year, with Districts 1, 2, 4, and 5 having preliminary elections.

Districts 1 and 4 are also wide open after incumbents Sean Rose and Sarai Rivera announced they were not seeking reelection.

"I do think there's been a good, strong response from candidates, which is exciting," O'Brien said.

In total 40 candidates made it on the ballot this year, with 27 running for City Council and 13 running for School Committee.

However, O'Brien said he believed the Sept. 5 election date may depress turnout for the preliminary, coming the day after a three-day weekend.

In November, when the general election will be held after the field narrows in several races, O'Brien said there will be more excitement in both City Council and School Committee races. He predicts turnout will be higher than in previous years.

The ballot

No outright winners will be decided today. Preliminary elections, not to be confused with primary elections (linked to political parties), are a way of narrowing the field to two candidates, who will meet in November.

Preliminary elections are held for seats in which the number of candidates is more than double the number of sought seats. For example, there is a preliminary for District 1 city councilor because there are three candidates. Meantime, there is no preliminary for at-large city councilor because there are 11 candidates for six seats.

Besides at-large city councilor, there is no preliminary for mayor and District 3 councilor.

In District 1: Jennifer Pacillo, David Peterson and Larry Shetler are running to succeed District 1 City Councilor Sean Rose.

In District 2: incumbent Candy Mero-Carlson faces two challengers: Former District 2 City Councilor Philip Palmieri and Robert Bilotta.

District 4: Five candidates hoping to succeed District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera: Luis Ojeda, Katia Norford, Theodore Kostas, Maria Montano and Maureen Schwab. Rivera is not running again.

In District 5: Incumbent Etel Haxhiaj faces two challengers: Jose Rivera and Edson Montero.

School Committee

The School Committee election is different this year, with the panel no longer filled by only at-large seats. There will be two at-large seats and six district seats, to be labeled A through F. The mayor also serves on the committee.

Only District E requires a preliminary. The candidates are Nelly Medina, Kathleen L. Roy and John Patrick Reed.

Return to telegram.com's Election Blog for updates throughout the day. And be sure to check in after the polls close for full results.

Tatum Goetting, Marco Cartolano and Veer Mudambi of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Live coverage: Preliminary election day in Worcester