Barrett Takes Top Spot in Preliminary, Alcombright in Second
 The preliminary election results put John Barrett III and Richard Acombright on the election ballot for November. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Former Mayor John Barrett III, who led the city for 26 years, outpolled his closest competitor, incumbent Richard Alcombright, by some 266 votes in Tuesday's preliminary election.
Barrett won in all five wards, with the closest victory being a five-point spread in Ward 3.
The unofficial numbers were 1,240 for Barrett and 974 for Alcombright.
Candidate Eric Rudd came in third, and off the ballot, with 204 votes.
The preliminary election set the stage for a essentially a repeat of the last three mayoral elections, starting with Alcombright's ouster of the 13-term Barrett in 2009.
Barrett had been quite hopeful about his chances to vie once more for the corner office based on the turnout he was seeing earlier in the day.
"I feel good. There was a good response out there and what I was really impressed by was the turnout," he said. He estimated the "active" voters at about 6,200 to 6,300. "So that means it looks like it is going to go over 40 percent, which is a marvelous turnout, and they are still coming out now.
"So I am cautiously optimistic on that end of it."
Voting was low, however, with only about 28 percent of voters going to the polls, with 2,432 ballots cast. Turnout was stronger than for the last preliminary election in 2011, which saw Alcombright and former City Councilor Ronald Boucher take the top two spots against candidate Robert Martelle. In that election, which also saw 45 write-ins for Barrett, only 1,664 ballots were cast.
Rudd, an artist and local developer, had hoped to breakthrough the Alcombright/Barrett dialogue but found his voice hushed with the late entry of Barrett in the campaign.
"It can go either way," he said shortly before the polls closed. "I wanted a one-to-one and I thought on a one-to-one with Dick I could possibly win, but more importantly I thought I could elevate the dialogue and the debate and over that time period we could really discuss the problems and how we can fix North Adams.
"The minute John Barrett got into the race I knew it would be an uphill battle because everyone gets in the two camps they have been in and the city has been divided for many years and it has been unfortunate and has been a real obstacle for progress in North Adams."
Voting had been steady throughout the day at the city's two polling spots at Greylock School and St. Elizabeth's Parish Center.
By 3 p.m., election workers said they have seen a consistent flow. Out of the city's 8,549 registered voters, 1,083 of the voters from Wards 1, 2, 3 and 5 had voted.
"It has been slow and steady, and a lot more than I thought was going to be here," election worker Ron O'Brien said. "It has been a good turnout for a primary with one ballot question. It is a little better than normal."
City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau said she had expected more residents would vote as the day goes on.
"Overall it has been steady. It hasn't been swamped there has just been a steady flow of voters," she said. "I suspect between 4:30 and 6 we will see a lot more."
The candidates and supporters were out at both locations, although the numbers waving signs was far lower than normal election days.
"A lot of people have come up to me and said 'good luck Eric' and then they go shake hands with John Barrett or they go shake hands with Dick Alcombright. So they are some people who are supportive of me but are they going to vote or not?" said Rudd. "Who knows?"
Alcombright, also waiting outside St. Elizabeth's, said it was hard to measure the support.
"You never know. You watch them come and go, and between preliminary and regular elections, I think this is really the sixth time, and you can never really get a sense," he said. "There are folks you look at and you know they are supporters and people that you might think are supporters and then there are others you just hope are supporters and we just hope to come out of this in the top two."
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Tags: election 2015, preliminary election,
