Sept. 9 primary to decide Lynn state rep race

LYNN – The election for the 11th Essex District state representative seat will be decided in the Sept. 9 primary, and City Clerk Mary Audley expects that race over any other on the local ballot will draw voters to the polls in Lynn.”I don’t think the governor’s race will do the pushing,” she said. “It will all be the rep race.”According to Audley, during the 2010 governor’s race, when then incumbent State Rep. Mark Falzone had a challenger as well as state Sen. Thomas McGee, only 5,097 of 48,712 registered voters cast ballots in the primary.As of last November, there were 51,351 registered Lynn voters but Audley said she doesn’t expect to see much of a jump in voter turnout on Sept. 9. That could have an impact for City Councilor Brendan Crighton, School Committee member Charlie Gallo and local activist Aikaterini Panagiotakis Koudanis, who are all vying for the rep seat vacated by Steve Walsh earlier this year..”I think in the areas where Brendan, Charlie and Katerina are we will have a bump, but I don’t expect it to be crazy,” she said.The 11th Essex race will be decided in the primary because all three candidates are Democrats.Koudanis was registered as an unenrolled voter prior to announcing her candidacy. She said she chose to run as a Democrat because she is more closely aligned with the Democratic Party’s ideals and values but she isn’t a fan of the two-party system.”There is no reason to lock people into voting a certain party,” she said. “It should be open. If you want to vote for representative you should be allowed.”Audley said those who are registered Republicans can vote in the Democratic primary if they first temporarily change their party status – and it doesn’t have to be changed to Democrat. Those registered as “unenrolled” can take either ballot when they show up to vote.”And they can change their (party) right back after they vote,” she added.Residents have until Wednesday to visit the Election Office adjacent to the clerk’s office in Lynn City Hall to register to vote or change their party status. The office will be open until 8 p.m. to accommodate residents.Whether the average voter realizes the election will be decided on Sept. 9 is to be determined. Koudanis and Crighton said they believe the candidates have done a good job getting that message out but Gallo was a bit more hesitant.”I don’t know but we’re doing our best to let them know,” he said.Gallo, like Crighton, has campaigned over the summer hosting meet-and-greets and door knocking in both West Lynn and Nahant, which is also part of the 11th District. Koudanis admits she is not a traditional candidate and relies more on mailings and letting her local activist work speak for her.Despite the challenge of grabbing voters’ attention during the summer, Gallo said he has not changed his campaigning style, “because we work hard on every campaign we run.” He and “Team Gallo” are confident the voters will come out.Crighton is also feeling sanguine about the primary.”The response at the doors and on the phone is that people are aware,” he said. “I think the word is out there how important the date is for the election.””All my campaign material says to vote Sept. 9 and I noticed that all my competition is doing the same,” Koudanis said. “I think it might be alright.”