John Oliver will fill the vacant at-large seat on the Newton City Council in Ward 1 and Tarik Lucas will fill the vacant at-large seat on the council in Ward 2, based on unofficial results for the special election.
Oliver won with 7812 votes, defeating Madeline Ranalli by 1376 votes.
“I’d like to sincerely thank the countless family, friends, volunteers, community leaders, local business owners and other residents who supported our vision,” Oliver wrote in a statement. “As your newest City Councilor, I vow to continue listening to and advocating for residents as I raise your voices to the table where Newton’s decisions are made.”
Lucas secured the council seat with 7503 votes. Bryan Barash received 6346 votes and David Micley received 611 votes. Lucas received 1157 more votes than Barash and 6892 more votes than Micley.
I would like to thank my family, my friends, my neighbors, and the hundreds of volunteers who made this victory possible. Our campaign was focused on the issues that Newton voters care about, including affordable housing, the environment, our schools
— Tarik Lucas (@electtariklucas) March 17, 2021
Newton began releasing the unofficial election results on its website at 8 p.m. when the polls closed. Some residents voted during early in-person voting at City Hall, which was held between March 8 and March 12, or by mail.
A total of 14,535 of the city’s 63,152 registered voters, or 23 percent, voted in the special election.
Provisional and overseas ballots that were postmarked Tuesday but arrive between Wednesday and Saturday will be included in the official election results, according to a statement from Mayor Ruthanne Fuller on Tuesday.
“The official tally, which will include all the votes cast by mail, in person early, in person today, and overseas ballots will be finalized when the Election Commissioners meet to certify the results by noon on Saturday,” Fuller said in the statement.
Ranalli received more votes than Oliver in Wards 5 and 6. Ranalli led in Ward 5 by 59 votes and in Ward 6 by 211 votes. In the remaining six Wards, Oliver secured more votes than Ranalli.
In Wards 5 and 6, Barash received more votes than Lucas. Barash led by 122 votes in Ward 5 and 172 votes in Ward 6. In the other Wards, Lucas received more votes than both Barash and Micley.
Featured Image by Julia Remick / Heights Editor
