Chelmsford Election 2021: Results, Tight Race

CHELMSFORD, MA — It was a tight race for Select Board and Planning Board Tuesday.

By 9 p.m. election results were in: George Dixon kept his seat with 1,582 votes, and Mark Carota slid into the other spot with 1,507 votes. Latosha Dixon was just 45 votes behind him.

"Congratulations to George Dixon on his fifth term and Mark Carota on his first term as Select Board members," Latosha Dixon said. "These gentlemen will serve Chelmsford well for the next three years."

In the planning board race newcomer Deirdre Connolly took a decisive lead with 2,163 votes and Tim Shanahan and Paul McDougall tied for the second seat both with 1,412 votes a piece.

There were 25,864 registered voters. The estimated population of the town in 2018 according to the census was 35,313.

"I am very grateful to the voters of Chelmsford for trusting me with another three years on the Select Board," George Dixon said in a statement. "I congratulate Mark Carota for his win, and I am grateful that Latosha Dixon and April Danielson brought some new ideas and energy to the election. There are many big issues to tackle, and I look forward to continuing to do my best for the town "

Two Select Board Members for three years: Results (two seats, three years)

• Mark Charles Carota - 1507
• April Danielson - 1019
• Latosha Denise Dixon - 1462
• George R. Dixon, Jr. (Incumbent) - 1582

Three Planning Board Members for three years; Results (two seats, three years)

• Deirdre Connolly, - 2163
• Paul A. McDougall, Jr., - 1412
• Glenn A. Kohl (I), - 1302
• Timothy R. Shanahan (I) - 1412

Town Meeting Members: Results

Precinct 1 (six seats, three year term):

• Judithy Craven, - 249
• Stacey Ladd Mulholland, - 235
• Robert M. Schneider, - 204
• Colleen Stansfield, - 246
• Kevin B. Ready, - 199
• Erica Clifford, - 238
• Theresa R Feely -208

Precinct 3 (six seats for three years):

• Helen Blasioli, - 222
• Scott Davidson, -179
• George Dixon Jr., - 243
• Alison Horner, - 131
• Paul Rigazio, - 138
• Michael McCall, -202
• Gerard Hall, - 153
• Susan Tanner, - 175
• David Hadley - 169

Uncontested town wide election winners:

• School Committee: Donna Newcomb
• Associate Planning Board Member: Erica Clifford
• Board of Health: William P. Sinausky
• Trustees of Public Library: Phakdey Yous
• Cemetery Commission: John B. Sousa Jr.
• Housing Authority: Wendy Elaine Mauriello

There were uncontested races in Precincts 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for Town Meeting members. As with last year, there were also a number of seats that no one was running for.

The uncontested races come as a number of other municipalities in Greater Boston have been seeing a slight increase in contested elections, in recent years. Political scientists say when election day comes and there's only one name per seat on a ballot, it's a bad sign for democracy.

Watch Chelmsford TV as the election results came in: