Lynn candidates: Ballot spot benefits in eye of the beholder

In an age of high technology, the several-minute-long ritual that unfolded Thursday in the City Clerk’s office was decidedly low tech.Armed with numbered ping-pong balls and a hexagonal-shaped wooden box mounted on an axle, Clerk’s administrative assistant Karen Richard picked the order in which the names of candidates running for city office will appear on the Sept. 17 preliminary election ballot.Does ballot position matter? Maybe, said Harry Coppola, a former School Committee member and City Councilor involved in local politics for 50 years.”They claim first and last place gets a certain percentage in a multi-person race,” he said.But Coppola, husband of committee member Donna Coppola, said voters sometimes assume a well-known elected official holding the first spot on the ballot “is a shoo-in” and the candidate loses votes to other candidates preferred by voters.Donna Coppola’s name will appear eighth on the committee ballot out of nine candidates with Maria Carrasco listed first followed by Stanley Wotring, Richard Starbard, Lorraine Gately, Melissa Romaniello, Charlie Gallo and Patricia Capano, with John Ford in the ninth spot.Councilor at large Gordon “Buzzy” Barton said ballot position is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard campaigning.”It doesn’t matter. You have to get your people out. You have to make sure you ask people for their vote,” Barton said.He drew the bottom spot on the at large ballot Thursday with Robert Clay Walsh in the first spot followed by Hong Net, Aikaterini Panagiotakis Koudanis, Miguel Funez, Brendan Crighton, Daniel Cahill and Paul Crowley.First-time council candidate Jake Keo wasn’t so quick to dismiss ballot position’s significance.”I think it matters a little,” he said.Keo’s name will be listed first on the ballot for the Ward 5 council race followed by candidates Dianna Chakoutis and Seth Albaum. Preliminary election voters will send two of the Ward 5 candidates to the Nov. 5 final election.Other ballot placements are as follows:Ward 1 council candidate Debra Plunkett’s name will be listed first on the ballot followed by Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi.Ward 2 Councilor William Trahant Jr.’s name will be listed above Ward 2 candidate Jesse Jaeger’s name.Ward 4 candidate Ariana Murrell-Rosario’s name will be listed on the ballot above Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci’s name.Ward 3 candidate Ronald Mendes isn’t worried about his name being listed below Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr’s.”I don’t think it matters in a ward race: People know who they are going to vote for,” Mendes said.By the way, Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy will be listed first on the ballot followed by the name of Council President Timothy Phelan.