Marblehead Elects 2 New Selectmen, Approves 2 Overrides

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead voters chose three incumbents, two newcomers and overwhelmingly passed override requests for a new fire pump truck and Abbot Library renovations during their trips to the polls on Tuesday.

With only three incumbents for the five Selectmen spots, and a crowded field of 14 ballot candidates plus one sticker candidate, it took a while for the results to come in for the annual town election.

But when they did it was the three incumbents — James Nye, Moses Grader and Jackie Belf-Becker — who were the top three vote-getters. Newcomer Erin Noonan finished fourth and newcomer Alexa Singer grabbed the final spot on the Board.

Singer finished about 200 votes ahead of sixth-place finisher Benjamin Berman in the unofficial results, with Anthony Sasso seventh and James Sisson eighth.

Marblehead lawyer Anne Stevenson, who attempted to run a sticker campaign after she said her nomination papers were rejected on a technicality, was able to muster up 341 votes.

Marblehead voters also weighed on two proposition 2 1/2 override proposals totaling $9.5 million for a new pump truck for the fire department and renovations to the historic Abbot Library.

Both passed easily.

The pump truck received 3,404 "yes" votes (79.2 percent) to 890 "no" votes (20.8 percent).

The Abbot Library received 3,008 "yes" votes (69.1 percent) to 1,340 "no" votes (30.9 percent).

Here are the (unofficial) Board of Selectmen tallies:

2,184 James Nye

2,149 Jackie Belf-Becker

1,985 Moses Grader

1,813 Erin Noonan

1,780 Alexa Singer

1,594 Benjamin Berman

1,555 Anthony Sasso

1,528 James Sisson

520 Yael Magen

503 Caroline Joan Murphy

349 Mark Harris

341 Anne Stevenson (sticker)

317 John Odlin Liming

302 Rose Ann Wheeler McCarthy

255 Dustin Floyd

The turnout rate for the election was 28 percent of eligible voters.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)