Total best count falls short of 20% benchmark by 191
UPDATED: No votes topped the yes by an almost 2-to-1 margin in the special election held to decide a bylaw restricting leaf blowers, but the number of no votes, 5,589, did not reach the 20-percent benchmark required by state law. They fell 191 short. Thus, the Town Meeting bylaw, which still must be approved by the state attorney general, remains.
Here are the unofficial results based on reporting about the returns as they were received at the town clerk’s office by 9 p.m. Thursday, July 19. They show that the number of no votes bested the yes, 5,589 to 2,619, but the total count for no came to 19.3 percent. The number of votes needed to reach 20 percent was 5,780.
YourArlington has requested reaction from supporters and opponents.
Adam Auster, a Precinct 3 Town Meeting member who backed the bylaw, wrote: “Yesterday’s vote was a narrow win for the method of deliberation and compromise.”
Joe Kerble, treasurer of the Arlington Landscapers Association, promised to get back with comment, but first he said he would jojn his family for a vacation, part of which he had to miss because of his involvement in the campaign.
Jeremy Marin, a first-time Town Meeting member from Precinct 16, wrote:
“A seasonal restriction was upheld, at a cost to taxpayers of $30,000. It appears taxpayers will be asked to pay several thousand more for a Special
Town Meeting.
“Meanwhile our police staffing levels are lower than similar communities, our schools are underfunded and our infrastructure is, by all accounts, in need of serious repair. A focus on first overturning our elected body and then our electorate, while within opponent’s rights, are becoming a drain on Arlington’s limited resources in an effort to repeal regulations less restrictive than exist in hundreds of other communities across the country.”
Carol Band, the original propnent of the bylaw, wrote July 21:
“I am happy that Town Meeting’s decision to restrict the use of gas-powered blowers was upheld, and I am proud of Arlington for elevating the awareness of this issue and for engaging in a good public debate. The only unfortunate outcome was that the Special Election cost the town so much money.”
The Board of Selectmen called the election in accordance with Chapter 43A, Section 10, of the Mass. General Laws after a petition was submitted and signatures certified seeking to reverse the Town Meeting vote under Article 25 (leaf blowers). The text of the ballot question:
“Shall the town vote to approve the action of the representative town meeting whereby it was voted to amend the Town Bylaws to prohibit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers on private property between May 15th and October 15th by a vote of 95 in the affirmative to 85 in the negative.”
For residents not registered to vote, the last day to register for this election was Thursday, June 28. Additional election information, including polling locations, can be found at arlingtonma.gov/election.
As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 17, 1,303 had cast absentee ballots.
Town Clerk Stephanie Lucarelli said that in the 2008 presidential election, about 1,500 absentee in Arlington. The town turnout in that election was 84.5 percent. The average turnout in the last 11 town elections is 22.4 percent (see chart).
The Globe reported July 19 that 28,898 voters were registered for the July 19 ballot question.
Twenty percent of this number is 5,780, the minimum number of votes needed to reverse the bylaw limiting leaf blowers, if the reversal also gains a majority of all votes cast.
Registered voters by precinct:
P1 – 1,001
P2 – 1,424
P3 – 1,301
P4 – 1,364
P5 – 1,345
P6 – 1,364
P7 – 1,381
P8 – 1,514
P9 – 1,430
P10 – 1,471
P11 – 1,455
P12 – 1,533
P13 – 1,457
P14 – 1,289
P15 – 1,327
P16 – 1,290
P17 – 1,159
P18 – 1,497
P19 – 1,481
P20 – 1,443
P21 – 1,372
For news stories about this election, see:
Backers of leaf-blower limits reach beyond the racket
Against long odds, Arlington landscapers eye 6,000 no votes, top $11K in fund-raising
Compromiser Radochia sticks to guns
How will the leaf-blower bylaw be enforced?
July 19 Boston Globe summary (to read it all, you must be a subscriber)
Results reported earlier here now square with the town’s unofficial results. Counts in one precinct were transposed.
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