Politics & Government

BREAKING: Stewart Wins, Nardella Out

In a political upset, Don Stewart edged out incumbent Rick Nardella by the narrowest margin in recent history.

The Election 2011 results are in, and they're shockingly close.

Don Stewart, 70, won a seat on the Board of Selectmen, edging out incumbent Rick Nardella by just 12 votes. Stewart is no stranger to the Board -- he previously served on it for 15 years.

Stewart received 1,304 votes, 28.45 percent. Incumbent Nardella received 1,292 votes, 28.18 percent.

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Late Tuesday afternoon, Stewart was cautiously optimistic, noting that the low voter turnout -- just over 1,700 at 4 p.m. -- was in his favor. And at that time, he pointed out that the people coming out to vote so far were largely the elderly and union members, many of whom supported him in this campaign.

But Stewart said, in his familiar phrase, "I'm keeping my lips shut."

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Nardella campaigned and pleaded his case to the voters, emphasizing his experience as an accountant weeding out waste and fraud.

There is no automatic recount in North Andover if elections are close. Candidates have to request them and gather signatures for recounts. Town Clerk Joyce Bradshaw said that she has never seen an election as close as this one.

Selectman Tracy Watson, who was first elected in 2008, won re-election and will remain on the Board. Watson ran an aggressive campaign, but Tuesday afternoon she expressed a mix of uncertainty and cautious optimism as she waved to cars and shivered in the cold March wind.

Brian Gross gathered enough votes to win a seat on the School Committee with a decisive victory, and School Committee Chair Stan Limpert handily won re-election to that committee as well. They both beat Stan Novak by more than 15 percent of the vote.

Another shockingly close race, however, was that of the Greater Lawrence Vocational Technical High School. Frank Rossi won with 1,047 votes -- just eight more votes than his opponent, Robert Bonnenfant.

The least surprising result of the evening was, of course, the Housing Authority seat race. Ted Snell ran unopposed.

Here is the list of candidates and how many votes they got.

Board of Selectmen

Candidate Votes Percentage Tracy Watson 1461 31.87% Rick Nardella 1,292 28.18% Don Stewart 1,304 28.45% Joe Smith 505 11.02%

 

School Committee

Candidate Votes Percentage Stan Limpert 1589 38.90% Brian Gross 1560 38.19% Stan Novak 920 22.52%

 

Greater Lawrence Regional Technical High School Representative

Candidate Votes Percentage Robert A. Bonenfant 1,039 49.48% Frank A. Rossi 1,047 49.86%

 

Housing Authority

Candidate Votes Percentage Ted Snell 2,100 100%

 

Log on to North Andover Patch tomorrow for the complete story on this election.


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