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Westminster council incumbents victorious
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(Westminster Common Council)
Westminster Common Council incumbents Robert Wack, left, Suzanne Albert and Gregory Pecoraro were re-elected by city voters on Monday. Westminster Common Council’s three incumbents easily retained their seats in Monday’s election with less than 5 percent of the city’s registered voters making the decision. Voters were asked to pick three council members from a list of six candidates to fill the five-member board. Robert Wack received 319 votes; Suzanne Albert garnered 287; and Gregory Pecoraro captured 284. William Gill led the unsuccessful challengers with 105 votes while Charles Cull captured 104. Ken Warren had 52 votes. Four votes were cast for former mayor Kevin Dayhoff as a write-in candidate. Six people cast absentee ballots. Albert, who pledged to help solve the region’s water shortage and to cut government waste, was elected to her fourth term. Also vowing to secure additional water sources and develop affordable housing, Pecoraro was elected to his third term. Elected to his second term, Wack promised to implement new financial software to improve transparency of the city’s accounting practices. The council members will be sworn in May 21, when the board will vote for a president and committee leaders. A lack of aggressive campaigning and the absence of hot-button issues led to a low voter turnout in Monday’s balloting, election judges said. “They can’t complain if they don’t vote, but they will anyway,” said Sue Thomas, a chief election judge. A total of 411 of the city’s approximately 10,000 registered voters cast ballots at the county seat’s two precincts - at the Westminster fire hall on John Street and Westminster Municipal Pool on Royer Road. “People probably figured the incumbents will win,” resident Shirley Hoff said of the poor turnout as she walked into the fire hall. At the pool, election judge Jean Seitz looked out the window, waiting for the next round of voters to trickle in. Each precinct featured white-and-red banners reading, “Vote here,” which was enough to lure Sean Manear to the fire hall precinct, though he said he was unaware of election day. “I felt it was important, I guess,” he said. “And I live right here, so it’s not like I had to drive or anything.” |
