2 contests, ballot question headline April 8 town election

Two key board seats and a potentially consequential, albeit non-binding ballot question will be decided next week as Canton voters head to the polls for Tuesday’s annual town election.

Early voting officially commenced on Saturday at Town Hall and continues this week through 1 p.m. on Friday, April 4. Those who completed a vote-by-mail application by the April 1 deadline also have that option, with all completed ballots due by the close of polls on Election Day, April 8.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,060 residents had already cast their votes, which includes both in-person voting and mailed ballots.

Select Board incumbent John Connolly

Up for grabs in this year’s election are 10 open seats, although a large majority of them are uncontested. The exceptions are a three-year term on the Select Board, which is between longtime incumbent John Connolly and first-time candidate Susan Harrington, and a five-year Planning Board seat, which also features a two-person race between incumbent David McCarthy and a relative political newcomer in Hamilton Rodrigues.

A real estate broker by profession, Rodrigues has past experience on the town’s Economic Development Committee and Canton Center Design Review Board. He previously ran for Select Board in 2021 and also made a bid for U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch’s seat in 2022, losing in the Republican Primary that year to Milton native Robert Burke.

A grassroots campaigner and staunch advocate for fiscal responsibility, Rodrigues is looking to unseat McCarthy, a two-term incumbent and current chair of the Planning Board. Also a real estate broker, McCarthy initially ran for a three-year vacancy and was reelected to a full five-year term in 2020. In 2018, he was tabbed to lead the steering committee to oversee the development of an updated Canton Master Plan, and he currently serves as a member of the town’s Community Preservation Committee and Affordable Housing Trust.

In the other contested race on the ballot, it’s a similar dynamic with Connolly, a lifelong Canton resident and CHS graduate, campaigning on his track record and knowledge of municipal government and Harrington touting her fresh ideas, diverse skillset, and pledge to bring greater accountability to local government.

Select Board challenger Susan Harrington

A nearly 30-year resident, Harrington has not held elective office but has served the community for nearly three decades in various other capacities, including as a board member of the booster group MusicCounts and more recently as an appointed member of the town’s Bylaw Modernization Committee.

Connolly, meanwhile, is a fixture in Canton town government, starting with a two-term stint on the School Committee shortly after he graduated from college and continuing over the last 36 years as a member of the Select Board.

He is now vying for a 13th consecutive term on the board as he looks to keep pace with Canton’s longest serving elected official in Bill Galvin, who is running unopposed for reelection to the Board of Assessors — a position he has held since 1987, coinciding for most of that time with his service as Canton’s state representative in the 6th Norfolk District.

Also running unopposed for reelection this year are fellow incumbents Kristian Merenda (School Committee), Anjali Bayliss (Board of Health), and library trustees Peg Mead, Emily Prigot and Nancy Connery, all of whom are seeking three-year terms.

Additionally, Sonja Grauds, who is currently serving in an appointed capacity on the School Committee to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Laura Arboleda, is running unopposed for the remaining one year left on Arboleda’s original term. Grauds will be joined on the committee by another newcomer, Amanda Ryder, who is running unopposed for the three-year seat that’s being vacated by outgoing member Maureen Moran.

Besides the offices up for grabs, voters will also be asked to decide on a ballot question about whether to move local elections from April to November so that they coincide (in even-numbered years) with state and federal elections. The proposal, spearheaded by a group called “Canton Residents to Move the Vote,” will also be put to voters at the 2025 Annual Town Meeting, with the Select Board having the final say over whether to advance the measure to the state legislature via a home rule petition.

The question on the April 8 ballot is as follows: “Should the town of Canton hold annual municipal elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, with the first annual municipal election to start in a non-presidential election year?”

A ‘Yes’ vote supports moving municipal elections from April to the same date in November as state and federal elections, beginning in a non-presidential election year. A ‘No’ vote opposes the measure and recommends that local elections continue to be held annually on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April.

Proponents of the ballot question believe that the change — which is atypical for Massachusetts towns due to an existing state law — would lead to greater engagement and higher voter turnouts in local elections. Critics, however, argue that the dual-election format would confuse voters and overburden the town’s poll workers and election officials.

Additional information put out by the architects of the ballot question can be found at movethevote.info. For more information about the candidates for office, their backgrounds and why they are running, check out the online Canton Voter Guide at cantonmavoterguide.com.

The Voter Guide team, in partnership with the Canton Lions Club, also recently hosted a series of candidate forums that are being rebroadcast on Canton Community Television and are available to be streamed on demand at cantoncommunitytv.org. Also be sure to check out the Citizen’s Q&A with the candidates for Select Board and Planning Board in this week’s print edition.

For more information about the April 8 town election, including a precinct map and polling locations, visit town.canton.ma.us/259/Town-Clerk or call 781-821-5013.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=131362

Posted by Jay Turner on Apr 3 2025. Filed under Top Stories. Both comments and pings are currently closed.