School Committee Winners: See Official Sudbury Election 2026 Results

SUDBURY, MA — The official winners are in following Sudbury's 2026 Annual Town Election, featuring eight races.

Official results for the Annual Town Election revealed that Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco edged write-in candidate Jonathan Sullivan by 11 votes after unofficial results on election night appeared to have Sullivan ahead, according to the Town Clerk's Office.

Sullivan launched a campaign in March amid discussions about the School Committee. That was after hundreds of people had signed a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in several committee members.

He garnered 1,437 votes, losing by a very small margin to Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco, who received 1452 votes. Julie Durgin-Sicree had 1,566 votes, according to official results.

However, Sullivan was informed that he won one of the seats on the School Committee by 11 votes, the candidate told the MetroWest Daily News earlier this week.

On Wednesday, the Town Clerk released the OFFICIAL vote count, along with a statement from town officials addressing an increased interest in the election results.

"We understand there is a lot of interest in the results of the March 30, 2026 Annual Town Election. The narrow margin of the Sudbury School Committee race is of particular interest," town officials wrote in the statement.

In the statement, Sudbury officials outlined the process by which ballots are counted in Massachusetts.

Sudbury officials said that after all elections in the state, machine tapes are printed, read and posted in each precinct when the polls close. Those machine tape totals reflect only the votes read by machines, and for any write-in votes, the tape shows there was a write-in vote, but not the person who the voter voted for.

Then, the ballots counted by the machine are reviewed for write-in votes, and all write-ins are tallied and added to the machine tape totals, while ballots that could not be read or counted by the machine are manually placed in a special compartment in the machine. Those votes are also added to the machine totals.

Sudbury officials said all ballots were counted at the polling location on Monday and that, typically, final votes differ from the totals on the tape, adding that not all write-in votes were cast for Jonathan Sullivan.

"It is reasonable to assume...that not all write-in votes in the School Committee race were cast for Jonathan Sullivan changed the vote totals from those on the machine tapes," the town wrote. "The addition of hand count votes increased the totals for Ellen Lederer-Defranceso and Julie Durgin."

On the other side of things, the town said Sullivan's total vote count was "less than that shown on the machine tapes for write-ins, as some of those votes were cast for others."

The town said that due to the narrow margin, they recognize there may be a desire for a recount. You can learn more about the recount process here.

Election Day, Voter Turnout

On Monday, Sudbury residents voted on the Select Board, Board of Assessors, Goodnow Library Trustees, Board of Health, Park and Recreation Commission, Planning Board, Sudbury School Committee, and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee.

Voting was held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Fairbank Gym, and the town clerk’s office released an unofficial vote count Monday night.

There were 3,045 votes cast, which represents 23.83 percent of the town's 12,778 registered voters.

The voter turnout for this election was up 6 percent from last year, as 2,411 votes were cast in the 2025 Annual Town Election.

However, this year's turnout was still lower than 2023 and 2024, when more than 3,300 votes were cast, representing roughly 25 percent of registered voters in Sudbury.

Official Results

Here are the official results of Sudbury's 2026 Town Election.

• Select Board: one position
  • Charles Russo - 2250 votes
• Board of Assessors: one position
  • Liam J. Vesely - 2239 votes
• Goodnow Library Trustees: two positions
  • Mathews Iwasaki - 2217 votes
  • Mayyasi Elizabeth - 2135 votes
• Board of Health: one position
  • Susan Ruth Sama - 2264 votes
• Park and Recreation Commission: one position
  • Ryan James Poteat - 2200 votes
• Planning Board: one position
  • Julie Zelermyer Perlman - 2188 votes
• Sudbury School Committee: two positions
  • Julie Durgin-Sicree - 1566 votes
  • Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco - 1452 votes
  • Jonathan Sullivan (write-in) - 1437 votes
• Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee: two positions
  • Ravi Simon - 2134 votes
  • Jason McLure - 1982 votes