Dalton Recount Shows Bullet Voting in Select Board
DALTON, Mass. — The results from the May 12 local election changed little from the recount on Wednesday morning; however, the results revealed instances of bullet voting.
The results on May 12 showed that Antonio "Tony" Pagliarulo won one of the two seats in the four-way race with 577 votes for the board, outpolling the other three candidates by 107 votes.
In second was incumbent Marc Strout with 486. William Drosehn, chair of the Finance Committee, was 13 votes behind at 473, and Robert Collins had 459 votes.
The recount results showed Pagliarulo with 575, Strout with 485, Drosehn with 474, and Collins with 459.
Drosehn said he called for a recount last week "to find deeper information about the election results." He emphasized that he knew that the outcome was going to remain the same.
The recount showed that 157 people voted for only one candidate in the Select Board race, which had two open seats, Town Clerk Heather Hunt said.
The elections on May 12 saw an above-average voter turnout, with 1,001 individuals voting in person at the Senior Center, and 83 mail-in ballots were counted after the polls closed, for about 20 percent of registered voters.
On the ballot, voters were asked to select up two Select Board candidates. Voting for just one candidate detracts from the votes available for other candidates, Hunt said.
Drosehn raised concerns about the high number of blank ballots in the election and questioned whether voters understood the implications of these blanks.
The reason for his call for a recount was not to question the results but to investigate the reasons behind this phenomenon, he said.
The town clerk, warden, assistant warden, and 10 election workers hand recounted all of the ballots.
Drosehn expressed his appreciation for the election workers who helped with the recount.
This sentiment was also demonstrated by Hunt, who highlighted how their organization and work helped mitigate the costs this year.
Hunt indicated that the cost of the recount will be less than $1,000 and does not anticipate needing an interdepartmental transfer.
"In speaking of the costs, this team has been so instrumental in keeping costs down this year. We had talked about being hit pretty hard," Hunt said.
The clerk's office budget had the federal audit for the presidential election, an unplanned Feb. 3 special election, and the recount.
"This is the third event that I didn't budget for but thanks to [the election workers] knowing their job and being efficient and organized. They're the ones that are saving the town money, because if they didn't do their job so well, we would have been here for seven hours today, not 2 1/2," Hunt said.
"They get paid very little money, and they work really hard. They're not doing this for the money. They're doing it because they love it, and this is their service to the town. So, that's super important. I can't stress that enough."
Tags: election 2025, recount,
