Turn-out for Tuesday's preliminary election was disappointing, even by Springfield standards: Fewer than 10 percent of voters turned out to cast their votes in an election to narrow down a number of candidates for several City Council and School Committee seats to just two, for the Nov. 3 general election.
But not everyone ended that day disappointed. Among the big winners: Tim Allen, who cleaned up in the race for the Ward 7 seat. Allen walked away 921 votes-or 55 percent of the total-in that traditionally politically engaged neighborhood, leaving second place finisher, School Committee member Mike Rodgers, who got 28 percent of the vote, with a lot of catching up to do.
The highest voter-getter of the day, meanwhile, was Rodger's School Committee colleague Chris Collins, who's running for the Committee's District 3 seat. While Collins' vote percentage was slightly behind Allen's (he got 52 percent of the vote), more voters cast ballots for him than any other candidate: 1,400.
With the field now whittled down, here are the candidates voters will choose from on Election Day:
Mayor: Incumbent Domenic Sarno or City Councilor Bud Williams
City Council:
Ward 1: Gumersindo Gomez or Zaida Luna
Ward 2: Michael Fenton or Thomas Sullivan
Ward 3: Mel Edwards or Martin Loughman
Ward 4: Norman Oliver or E. Henry Twiggs
Ward 5: Clodo Concepcion or former City Councilor Carol Lewis-Caulton
Ward 6: Amaad Rivera or Keith Wright
Ward 7: Tim Allen or Mike Rodgers
Ward 8: Orlando Ramos or John Lysak
At-large seats (voters will choose five): Incumbents Jimmy Ferrera, Tim Rooke, Jose Tosado, Kateri Walsh; current School Committee member Tommy Ashe; Robert Francesca; former Councilor Mo Jones; Library Commissioner Vera O'Connor
School Committee:
District 1:Norman Roldan (with no challengers, the presumed winner)
District 2: Barbara Gresham or Sirdeaner Walker
District 3: Chris Collins or Orlando Santiago
District 4: Joseph Flebotte or Peter Murphy
At-large (voters will choose two, meaning both candidates are virtually assured election): incumbent Antonette Pepe and Denise Hurst
Full results from Tuesday's preliminary are on the city's Election Commission website.
