Election Central

Legislature to Decide Whether Two Haverhill Candidates Can Run for or Serve Two Offices at Same Time

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Haverhill city councilors voted this week to formally ask legislators to ban politicians from running and serving in two offices at the same time. All councilors present Tuesday approved sending the state legislature a home rule petition that would ratify voters overwhelming approval of two ballot questions. Mayor James J. Fiorentini and Mayor-elect Melinda E. Barrett led the call to seek the amendment to the city’s new mostly ward-based elections law. Fiorentini explained. “I personally didn’t have a promise with people running for more than one office, but the people have spoken.

Election Central

Sullivan the Favorite to Lead the Haverhill City Council Come January

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(Additional photograph below.)

Haverhill City Councilor Thomas J. Sullivan is currently the favorite to lead the City Council as its president in January. Sullivan, second highest vote getter with an unofficial 6,418 votes recorded last week, received the endorsement Monday of current Council Vice President John A. Michitson, who topped the count with 6,508 votes last Tuesday. “I’m honored and humbled to have John Michitson’s support for the presidency. I understand that it is a tremendous responsibility that I look forward to doing. I hope to earn the support of my fellow councilors and will be speaking to each one of them in the every near future to ask for their support,” Sullivan told WHAV.

Election Central

Haverhill Voters Make It Clear They Want Candidates to Seek Only One Seat at a Time

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Haverhill voters responded last night with a resounding “no” to the idea of candidates seeking and holding more than one office and defeated two candidates who sought to do so. Coincidentally or not, incumbent School Committee member Toni Sapienza-Donais lost both the Ward 2 School Committee seat and Ward 2 City Council post. Likewise, Fred A. Simmons lost his bids for an at-large City Council seat and Ward 4 School Committee seat. The first ballot question asked whether a person should be prevented from holding the office of mayor, city councilor or School Committee member while simultaneously holding any other elected or appointed office of the city or another position with the city for which they are paid out of the city treasury. That question received a total of 8,310 yes votes compared to 1,343 no votes.

Election Central

Barrett Becomes Haverhill’s First Woman Elected Mayor; Election Brings New Faces at all Levels

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By Marc Lemay. You can call her Mayor-Elect Melinda E. Barrett. On Tuesday, the 10-year city councilor defeated Guy E. Cooper for the seat in the corner office of City Hall. Barrett received 7,038 votes to Cooper’s 3,024 votes in unofficial results. In her acceptance speech to supporters, she reflected on the overall movement that not only brought her into office by a more than 2-1 margin, but also swept in a record number of women to other offices and brought a change in the system of local government.

Election Central

Haverhill Voters to Decide New Mayor, Mostly Ward-Based City Council and School Committee

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Haverhill City Clerk Kaitlin M. Wright is encouraging residents who haven’t already voted to take part in today’s general election—which will bring in a new mayor in January and the city’s first ward councilors and school committee members. Wright says about 2,800 Haverhill residents took part in early voting and vote-by-mail as of Monday. She notes 519 people took part in early voting and, as of Monday, about 2,300 people returned mail-in ballots. “As “Tip” O’Neill once said, ‘All politics are local,’ and this is going to be one of the most pivotal elections that we will see in our time in Haverhill with a new mayor coming into office. I highly encourage people to get out there and vote,” she says.

Election Central

Podcast: Haverhill’s Mayoral Candidates Favor Route 97 Fire Station, Share Other Views

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Haverhill’s two finalists for mayor approach the city’s problems in different ways, but both agree construction of a new Broadway-area fire station is a top spending priority. Councilor Melinda E. Barrett and retired Police Officer Guy E. Cooper both took time to visit WHAV’s downtown studios to detail their positions—including capital priorities, taxes and housing costs. Both vie to succeed outgoing, 20-year Mayor James J. Fiorentini during early voting this week and next week’s final election. Barrett says she has been working behind the scenes to secure land near Interstate 495 for a new fire station. “A fire station on (Route) 97 will give us a really, incredibly faster call time to Ayers Village and, even, Rocks Village because they could get on the highway there and get down to that other exit,” she said.

Election Central

Council Takes Final Formalities in Advance of Haverhill’s Consequential General Election

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As part of a whirlwind meeting on Tuesday, the Haverhill City Council took the routine steps of approving a warrant for the upcoming general election and reminding residents of advance and convenient opportunities for voting. The consequential election Tuesday, Nov. 7, implements the city’s first mostly ward-based system and decides what new face appears in City Hall’s corner office come January. Haverhill residents will elect one candidate for mayor, four for City Council at large, one candidate for ward city councilor in each of seven city wards, one candidate in each of those same wards for School Committee as well as vote on two non-binding questions. Voting on that date start at 7 a.m. with the polls closing at 8 p.m. In addition, City Clerk Kaitlin M. Wright reminded voters early voting is also be available beginning this coming Saturday.

Election Central

Campaign Notebook: Ward Representation Appears to Foster Candidate Partnerships

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The introduction of mostly ward representation in Haverhill is giving rise to partnerships between non-competing office seekers. This past Sunday morning, for example, saw mayoral candidate and City Councilor Melinda E. Barrett campaigning with Ward 2 city council candidate Katrina Hobbs-Everett in what they called a “Morning of Action” in the neighborhood. Barrett also recently picked up the endorsements of Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. Tomorrow, Hobbs-Everett joins with Ward 1 city council candidate Ralph T. Basiliere and Ward 1 write-in School Committee contender Erica Diaz for an event called “Get Candid with the Candidates,” between 6 and 7:30 p.m., at Coco Brown, 293 Washington St. Basiliere explains to WHAV listeners what’s behind the cooperation.