Cause For Concern? Voters React To Low Turnout In Woburn

WOBURN, MA -- In many Woburn precincts on Tuesday, fewer than 200 people showed up to vote during the 13 hours polls were open. Even at the busiest -- precinct 2 in Ward 7, where 469 people voted -- the average number of voters per hour was just a hair above 38. Poll workers likely weren't complaining after last year's hectic presidential and state elections, but, for Woburn voters who responded to a Patch request for thoughts on Tuesday's municipal election, the low turnout was a symptom of a problem.

In fairness, only three wards had contested races, meaning voters in the city's other four wards were voting for a mayor, councilmen and school committee members who were running unopposed and didn't really need their vote. But residents said they would have liked to have seen their elected officials use the election as an opportunity to reach out to constituents, even if they were the only name on the ballot.

Jen Hess was one of the people who responded to our Facebook request for Woburn residents to offer their thoughts on the election. For Hess, what's more important than elections is how elected officials handle the issues facing the city, and she would have liked more communication on the issues most important to her: continued funding for the library renovation, the development of the park space on the Clapp School site, and the school committee's selection of the next superintendent.

"I was very disappointed in the lack of communication from those running. Even in an off-year, every election counts," Hess said. "I hope all our officials know we are watching, and even if we don't have a lot of competition for office, that doesn't mean we're satisfied with the status quo."

When Patch asked candidates running in the three contested races for their platforms, we heard from the three challengers in the contested City Council Races in Wards 3, 6 and 7. We also heard from Alderman-At-Large Michael Concannon and Ward 5 Alderman Darlene Mercer-Bruen, who ran unopposed. But the three incumbents in the contested races -- Mark Gaffney in Ward 3, Edward Tedesco in Ward 6 and Lindsay Higgins in Ward 7 -- did not respond to our request.

Despite that -- or maybe in spite of Woburn Patch -- the three incumbents were reelected.

Andrew Lipsett said he is a relative newcomer to Woburn and the lack of local political engagement has been surprising. He thinks the lack of challengers fuels the problem, because incumbents don't have to take a stand on specific issues.

"That races were unopposed is not a great excuse," Lipsett said. "Politics in Woburn also seems strangely divorced from issues - it was very difficult to get a sense of where candidates stood on specific points, and elections seem based more on name recognition and local cred. This can only be damaging to civic progress, especially in a city that is changing as fast as Woburn is."

A reoccurring theme in many of the comments suggested candidates are complacent -- the lack of challengers and the notion that name recognition is often all you need to get reelected has resulted in a political class that doesn't have a sense of what issues matter most to their constituents.

"I voted just to exercise my right. The Mayor does not communicate with his constituents and neither does my Alderman. With how easy social media is, and how so many people use it, you’d think our officials would use it to invite input from their constituents and encourage our participation," Christine Link said. "Guess I’ll have to run."

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).