It's Official: Woburn Election Turnout Hit A Record Low Tuesday

WOBURN, MA -- It wasn't the first time Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin has run unopposed for reelection. And it wasn't the first time Woburn held municipal elections with few contested races in a year where there were no state or federal elections to get out the vote. But for reasons city officials can;t quite explain, just 3,696, or 15.7% of Woburn's registered voters cast ballots Tuesday.

Only three of the city's seven 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 that's similar to 2011, when Galvin ran unopposed and 5,185 people voted, or 2015, when Galvin again ran unopposed and 5,930.

And Tuesday's voter turnout numbers are a far cry from 2003, when 12,457 people voted in Woburn's municipal election that didn't have any state or federal races.

"Locally, there's nothing I can attribute it to," City Clerk William Campbell told the Daily Times Chronicle, which first reported the story. "You don't know if it's because people are really satisfied or dissatisfied with what they're seeing."

On Wednesday, Woburn Patch explored the voter indifference to this year's races. A lot of respondents said they felt candidates -- whether they were running unopposed or in a race -- should have done more to reach out to constituents to help them feel connected to the local political process.

"I was very disappointed in the lack of communication from those running. Even in an off-year, every election counts," Jen 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. The three incumbents were reelected.

"That races were unopposed is not a great excuse," Andrew 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."

For more on this story, see the Daily Times Chronicle. Subscribe to Woburn Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

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