Editor’s note: This story has been updated throughout to reflect the final election results, which the town posted on April 2, 2026.
UPDATED, April 3 at 8 a.m.: Arlington voters overwhelmingly approved an operating override of $14.8 million of the Proposition 2½ tax cap, with 9,829 people voting in favor of Question 1 and 3,855 against it in Saturday’s election, according to the official results, posted by the town on April 2. It is the largest override ever approved by voters in the state.
The official results, which reflect ballots counted by hand after the polls closed, did not change the outcome of any race. Of the 32,880 registered voters, 13,757 voted – or 41.84 percent – in the March 28, 2026 election.
Override wins by wide margin
In the two contested races, incumbent Nicholas C. Mitropoulos held onto his seat on the Housing Authority and Crystal S. Haynes Copithorne edged out Shaun D. Berry and Dmitry Missiuro Vasilyev for the one-year seat on the School Committee. That seat opened up when Jane P. Morgan resigned from the committee to serve as an interim member of the Select Board after member Len Diggins moved out of town.
Voter turnout tops 41 percent
Question 1 on the ballot was the override of Proposition 2½, a state law that limits how much property taxes can be increased to 2.5 percent town-wide annually. The tax base also increases each year based on “new growth” such as the construction of apartment buildings and home improvements. The override will permanently increase property taxes to cover the operating costs of the town and school department.
Members of the “Yes for Arlington” campaign gathered at the American Legion Post 39 on Mass. Avenue to watch the results come in and then celebrate them.
School Committee Chair Jeff Thielman, a co-chair of the “Yes” campaign, told YourArlington that he was stunned by the results of nearly 72 percent (71.83 percent) of voters approving the override. Yes: 9,829; no: 3,855; and 73 people did not vote on the question.
“The voters considered all the data and information that we provided,” Thielman said, “and they voted yes in an overwhelming number. It certainly goes against the trend that we’re seeing in other towns across the region.”
“I’m thrilled. This campaign worked incredibly hard, and so these are the results that we were hoping for,” School Committee member Liz Exton, who was one of the three field managers for the campaign. Exton said the campaign volunteers spent eight weeks reaching out to voters to provide information about the override, knocking on an estimated 10,000 doors, which is about half of all Arlington households.
The most recent operating override of $7 million, approved by voters in November 2023, kept municipal finances afloat through the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Another type of override is a debt exclusion, such as the June 2019 vote that funded the new $290.4 million Arlington High School, which was completed earlier this year.
Voting was brisk throughout the town on March 28, with several precincts calling for more ballots throughout the day. The final turnout was 41.84 percent of the town’s 32,880 registered voters eligible for this election, which also included a ballot question seeking to increase the number of licenses for stores to sell alcohol. Some precincts reported more than 50 percent turnout.
Also on the ballot was Question 2, which proposed adding of two more off-premises liquor licenses to Arlington’s roster of package stores. It passed with 9,497 voting yes and 3,833 voting no, with 427 “blanks.”
Town Clerk Juli Brazile posted the unofficial results at 9:16 p.m. Saturday. Brazile said that official results would be posted this week, when she and her office have a chance to hand-count and reconcile the ballots, reviewing all write-in candidates and the like.
Tight races for Housing Authority and School Committee
In only two contested races, longtime Housing Authority member Nicholas C. Mitropoulos retained his seat over newcomer Jacob Henry Deck in a tight race. Mitropoulos received 5,096 votes to Deck’s 4,824. Deck was at Town Hall at 9 p.m. as several precincts were read aloud, and he could be heard reacting to the favorable results. “It is going surprisingly well,” Deck said when he was trailing Mitropoulous by 10 votes. “When I started this race, I had old ladies in housing authority buildings telling me that I had no…chance of winning and here I am.”
The single seat for the one-year appointment to the School Committee had three candidates: Crystal S. Haynes Copithorne (4,634 votes), Shaun D. Berry (4,314) and Dmitry Missiuro Vasilyev (2,002). Haynes Copithorne is believed to be the first African American to be voted onto the School Committee.
The ballot also asked voters to choose a new member of the Select Board, with newcomer Joseph A. Solomon (8,143 votes) joining incumbent Diane M. Mahon (9,202). Board of Assessors Chair Mary Winstanley O’Connor, who ran unopposed, received 8,875 votes. And, for School Committee, where three incumbents ran for three seats, Elizabeth R. Exton received 8,726 votes, Laura B. Gitelson, 8,520, and Paul Schlichtman, 8,418.
Voters in all 21 precincts were asked to vote on Town Meeting members, and write-ins were still being calculated on Saturday night. The precinct-by-precinct breakdown is also available online.
Brazile, the town clerk, said the day was busy and went along with no notable problems. Before the polls closed, Brazile told YourArlington that, in the early in-person voting period, 932 people had come to Town Hall to vote over seven days. That is on par with a presidential election.
Inside the vote count at Town Hall
A faint cheer could be heard coming from the main auditorium of Arlington Town Hall to reflect the relief of having gotten through the day as the clock hit 8 p.m. on Saturday and the polls closed. The first election results arrived at 8:18 p.m. at the Town Clerk’s office on the second floor of Town Hall when the election warden brought in Precinct 7, which votes at the Gibbs School in East Arlington. Precinct 10 arrived around 8:34 p.m., and by 9:27 p.m., all 21 precincts were in and being counted.
The wardens bring the “Poll Pad” green cases with the paperwork and ballot information, along with green envelopes carrying the electronic cards with the actual vote tallies. Each precinct’s voting results are printed out on a tape, which is first read and posted at the precincts. Then the voting results are brought to Town Hall, where they are rerun. On Saturday night, those precinct results were then read by Select Board vice chair John Hurd on ACMi, the local cable channel. By 9:30 p.m., Hurd read the last precinct’s tallies on air.
By 8:10 p.m., the town election officials were processing the ballots dropped off before the 8 p.m. deadline. Those votes would be added to the appropriate precinct tallies. As of Friday, some 3,800 ballots had been returned to the clerk’s office out of 7,491 that were mailed out to voters.
Town Clerk Brazile said that there was a larger-than-expected number of “spoiled ballots” where voters made more choices for Town Meeting members than were allowed, apparently mistaking the list of eligible candidates for a slate of candidates to be approved. Once those voters realized their mistake, they received a new ballot and the original one is “spoiled” or cancelled. Brazile said that all precincts had enough ballots and backup paper ballots and that all voters who arrived at a polling place by 8 p.m. were able to vote.
Holding the override along with the regular spring election saved the town the $50,000 it costs to run an election. In the past, the town had waited until after Town Meeting convened in the spring to debate the budgets before asking voters for more money. This way, the town will have the actual budgets before Town Meeting for approval.
No Kings rally draws large crowd earlier in day
Earlier in the day, some 3,000 turned out for the town’s first No Kings rally at the intersection of Mass. Avenue and Pleasant Street, stretching from the Unitarian Universalist Church to the Robbins Library and across the street to the Cutter museum. Arlington Police, which provided the crowd estimate, said there were no arrests and that there were no accidents from distracted drivers.
Photos by Dave Shrewsbury
This story was published on March 28, 2026, and will be updated. Nicole Abrams, Sara Creato, Brynn O’Connor, and Dave Shrewsbury contributed to this report.
