Big voter turnout key in Marblehead override election

MARBLEHEAD – It cost money to convince voters not to spend money this year.And it worked. Marblehead voters overturned all 10 of the debt exclusion override questions on the ballot, mostly by 2-1 margins.”Not Now We’re in a Recession,” the group organized by Jack Buba to oppose all 10 override questions on Tuesday’s ballot, raised $1,355 in contributions, including $1,100 from five Marblehead residents, according to a June 9 campaign finance report filed with Town Clerk Robin Michaud.”Not Now” spent $857.22 on a sophisticated campaign that included flyers, signs, bumper stickers and a mailing – and with some residents reporting multiple opposition robo-calls last weekend, the costs are likely to be higher when the group files its second report in about a month.In contrast, “Act Now for Glover,” the committee supporting the new Glover-Eveleth School project, reported raising $1,000 and spending $410 on a postcard mailing.The Marblehead Turf Field Committee, chaired by Bruce Bial, received $2637 from Bial and spent it on signs and newspaper advertising in favor of its proposal to astro-turf the Marblehead High football field.The campaign activity, unusual for a special election, had one clear-cut result. Voter turnout Tuesday was 5,880 or about 40 percent of the registered voters. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, years in which seven debt exclusion overrides went on the ballot and all seven passed, voter turnout was 18.2 percent, 24.5 percent and 5.4 percent respectively.In 2008 the feasibility study for the new Glover-Eveleth School passed, 2,365-1,311. On Tuesday the $28.8 million Glover-Eveleth School construction proposal garnered 2,953 “No” votes and 2,882 “Yes” votes – a 71 vote loss, making it the closest vote on the ballot.”No” votes on the 10 ballot questions averaged 3,682. That’s one vote more than the voter turnout in 2008, the highest voter turnout of the past three years.The state-required $22.2 million landfill cap and transfer station construction project lost by a vote of 3,875-1,956; the $706,961 landfill monitoring program lost by 3,372-2,424; the $899,955 purchase of a landfill-contaminated home at 57 Stony Brook Road lost by 3,383-2,386; the $100,000 for additional sidewalk repair lost by 4,184-1,639; the purchase of a vacant 195 Pleasant St. gas station lost by 3,896-1869; the $1.64 million Pleasant Street traffic safety program (including a $400,000 Massachusetts Highway Department grant) lost by 3,930-1,867; the $292,394 for access improvements at Abbot Public Library lost by 3,705-2,097; the $1.5 million for Astro-turf at the Marblehead High football field lost by 4,097-1,723; the $450,000 for furniture and technology purchases for the new Marblehead Village School lost by 3,432-2,375.