Waltham Preliminary Elections: Who Won?

WALTHAM, MA — If you were out and about today you might have noticed a number of people decked out in ponchos, rain coats and holding umbrellas as they balanced campaign signs out front of schools. Today, Tuesday, Sept. 19. was election day. Not the big citywide election day, it was the preliminary elections. The polls closed at 8 p.m. And by 9 p.m. the results were in.

In Ward 1: Daniel Romard and Daniel Keleher will be on the November 7 ballot with 374 and 345 votes respectively. Matt Waddick was right behind with 317 votes but will not move on.

In Ward 5: The November race will be between Joey LaCava who got 269 votes and Christina Montgomery who received 131 votes. Sally Collura only got 12o votes.

In Ward 8: Look for John Qualters, with his 177 votes, and CathyAnn Harris, with her 145 votes, in November. Lisa Limonciello, 60 votes, did not make it.

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Despite the rain, a number of people came out to vote in Wards 1, 5, and 8, where the city was holding preliminary elections to winnow the number of contestants from three to two for the November ballot.

"It's perfectly the same in terms of the number of people coming out to vote," said Ward 8 Warden William Durkee of this preliminary election compared with past preliminaries in the city. "The rain hasn't worsened enough to hold people back, and everyone seems happy."

Here are the numbers:

The US Census lists Waltham as having a population of 63,002. Of those, only 33,787 are registered to vote, according to the Assistant City Clerk Joe Vizzard. Of the 12,710 registered to vote by the end of the day 1,938 people cast a vote. That's roughly 15 percent (15.25 percent) of the registered voters in the wards with elections. (Editor's Note: We got our math wrong the first time.)

As of 11: 23 a.m., some 200 people had cast ballots in Ward 5, where 4,227 are registered to vote as Christina Montgomery and Joey LaCava stood outside holding signs with friends and family members in the rain. As of noon there were no signs for Sally Collura, the other person on the ballot for that ward.

But the two didn't seem to mind.

Cars driving by would slow and honk or give them thumbs up, and voters would wish the two good luck in a steady stream this morning.

"With the rain and not much on the ballot we did not expect to see so many people," said LaCava.

Montgomery said she was also pleasantly surprised at the turnout so far. "I'm feeling good," she told Patch.

A little bit away at the high school in Ward 1 , by noon some 214 people had voted in Ward 1, Precinct 2 as a receiving line of folks holdings signs in the rain stood welcoming folks in the hopes of getting one last vote.

Over at the Middle School some 208 people had voted by 12:28 p.m. And incumbent Dan Romard had just moved from holding his sign over at the high school to holding it in the rain out near the middle school.

"It's always a good day when it's election day," the incumbent in his fourth term told Patch. "We have so many issues happening in the city I can't just walk out and and dump them on someone else. I'd really like to see the issues to the end," he said.

By 12:30 p.m. Ward 1 which has 4,753 voters, had 412 votes cast, or 8.7 percent of registered voters in that Ward. And by 1 p.m. some 170 people had cast votes in Ward 8, where 3,730 people are registered to vote about 4.5 percent of the voters.

Outside of the South Junior High School Dan Keahane and Bob Burke were juggling their bright green John Qualters signs with their Dunkin Donuts coffee and donuts in the rain under umbrellas.

"We think so much of John, we'd do anything for him. He's a good proponent of Waltham and what's best for Waltham," said Keahane, who said he and Burke had been friends with Qualters since high school.

Laura Toli was out holding a Harris sign and was out supporting her because she respected her ability to organize her neighbors.

"CathyAnn is a neighbor and friend of mine. She really helped rally the neighborhood together," she said. Recently it looked like a Dunkin Donuts was slated to move into their neighborhood, something the neighbors were not happy with. "40 people showed up to the meeting," she said. "It looks like because of her, that Dunkin Donuts won't be put there."

Friends and family members of those who were on the ballot were not the only ones standing out in the rain today at the polls.

Frank LaPorta was holding a Randy LeBlanc sign outside of Ward 1, Precinct 1. in an effort to help get LeBlanc's name out ahead of the Nov. 7 election, even though LaPorta didn't really know LeBlanc, personally.

"I've done a lot of reading up on him and he's my type of guy. He supports his community, is a family man," he said.

Josh MacDonald summed him up, "I'm just a working class guy, so that's what I see in him," he said of LeBlanc.

THE RESULTS

RELATED Who's running? Everything you need to know.

Ward 1 - There are three running*

• Daniel Keleher
• Daniel Romard: Incumbent
• Matthew Waddick

Ward 5 - There are three running

• Joey La Cava — His interview with Patch Owner Of Pub On Main To Run For Waltham City Council
• Christina Montgomery for Ward 5 — - Her interview with Patch: Meet the candidates: Christina Montgomery on Rats
• (Sarafina) "Sally" Cullura - Her interview with Patch: Waltham's 'Around Town' Sally Collura Makes Another Bid

Ward 8 - There are three running*

• John Qualters
• CathyAnn Harris
• Lisa Lemonciello