A former Lawrence School Committee member has joined the Haverhill City Clerk’s office full time to help with election administration among other duties.
James R. Blatchford, who served two, two-year terms on the Lawrence School Committee, beginning in 2012, began working in Haverhill City Hall this week. City Clerk Linda L. Koutoulas said Blatchford will be helpful in recruiting Spanish-speaking poll workers.
“He will essentially be working with me on all election matters. He also will be assisting with the yearly street list and, as we are coming on the federal census, with that as well. He will maintain poll worker lists and actively recruit. He will also assist with training the poll workers. He will handle FOIA requests regarding election information and manage campaign finance reports. It is a lot, but I will be working along with him and this will allow me to concentrate on making things better, more streamlined for elections,” Koutoulas told WHAV.
Koutoulas said she envisions creating poll worker training videos that can be posted online.
Blatchford was the District F member on the Lawrence School Committee. He gave up the seat for a close, but unsuccessful, run for City Council in 2015. He dropped out of the Lawrence City Council race in 2017 after losing his State House job as legislative aide to Sudbury Democratic state Rep. Carmine Gentile.
He most recently worked as business development specialist for HBSS Connect Corp., Lowell. Blatchford is graduate of Lawrence High School and earned his bachelor’s from University of Massachusetts, Lowell.