Voters Go to the Polls Next Week; 49 Percent Turnout Predicted

The City Election season has had a slow start, according to Election officials, but there might be some up tick in activity this week as the November 8 contest nears.

Election Commissioner Diane Colella has reported over the last few weeks that absentee ballots are at a pretty low point for an election that features a contested mayoral seat, but that activity has picked up this week.

She said that she expects to have about 400 absentee ballots by Nov. 8th, which is up from previous predictions, but is still down significantly from the usual total of around 700.

Overall, Colella is predicting a voter turnout of 49 percent of registered voters. The total number of registered voters is just over 24,000, so Colella expects to see around 12,000 votes cast next Tuesday.

“Up until now everyone’s been asleep,” said Colella on Monday. “Today though we are getting more absentee ballots in and people are calling us with questions. At first, I thought it was going to be a busy election, so I said around 51 percent turnout, but I’m down to predicting around 49 percent now because everyone seems to be asleep on this one. This week things are picking up, so maybe the interest will pick up a lot too.”

The major draw on the ballot next Tuesday, Nov. 8th, will be for the office of mayor.

For the first time in 12 years, Mayor Tom Ambrosino will not be on the ballot for the office of mayor, leaving current councillors-at-large Dan Rizzo and George Rotondo vying for the seat.

Both have run a spirited campaign over the last year, and recently held their first public debate at the Whelan School on Oct. 18 – which was sponsored by the Journal and can still be viewed on RevereTV.

Also on the ballot are 11 candidates seeking five seats in the councillor-at-large race. Because Rizzo and Rotondo stepped up to run for mayor, there are two vacant seats. There are only three incumbents in the race, meaning that at the very least there will be two new faces on the Council. Those in the race are Brian Arrigo, William Bell, Mike Carter, John Correggio (incumbent), Jessica Ann Giannino, Robert Haas (incumbent), Victoria Laws, Steven Morabito, Albert J. Terminiello Jr., Cheryl Whittredge and Anthony Zambuto (incumbent).

All 11 candidates participated in a Question and Answer Forum sponsored by the Journal on Oct. 20th, and that production can also still be seen on RevereTV.

In the Ward Council seats, there are only two races out of six seats. The races will be in Ward 1, where incumbent Richard Penta meets challenger Gregg LaCedra, and in Ward 5, where incumbent John Powers faces off with challenger Frank Sabbio.

On the School Committee, there are seven candidates running for six seats. The lone challenger is Rick Freni, while the incumbents are Michael Ferrante, Dan Maguire, Donna Wood Pruitt, Stacey Rizzo, Fred Sannella and Carol Tye.

The final measure on the ballot will be a non-binding ballot question dealing with a plan by Global Oil Terminal on Lee Burbank Highway to ship large quantities of Ethanol via train through Revere to that terminal. A ‘Yes’ vote on that question would register one against the plan, while a ‘No’ vote would approve of the plan to bring in the trains.

That question will be key in judging public opinion on the plan.

The polls will open at 7 a.m. on Nov. 8th, and will close at 8 p.m.