Lynn, Medford, and Peabody voters head to the polls Tuesday to whittle down municipal race fields.
In Lynn, the race getting the most attention, said City Clerk Janet Rowe, is the four-way battle to replace Ward 2 City Councilor William Trahant, who served for nine terms.
“That’s the big one to watch,” said Rowe.
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
A low Lynn voter turnout is expected in the lead up to the November election for mayor, City Council and School Committee.
Rowe said she expects just 17 percent or 8,900 of the city’s 52,418 registered voters to go to the polls, similar to the 2013 primary.
The four candidates going head-to-head include Gina O’Toole, a 51-year-old teacher aide, Richard Starbard, 53, owner of Rick’s Auto Collision in Revere, Peter Grocki, a 50-year-old maintenance worker at the Salem Housing Authority, and salesman Christopher Magrane, 51.
Eight candidates are seeking four councilor-at-large seats including incumbents Buzzy Barton, Hong Net, and Brian LaPierre. The challengers are Brian Field, Jaime Figueroa, Richard Ford, John Ladd, and Taso Nikolakopoulos. Councilor-at-Large Daniel Cahill is not seeking reelection, clearing the way for at least one new at-large councilor.
In a quirk of election law, because there’s a primary fight in Ward 2, the names of all candidates in every race will appear on the ballot even if there are only two people running.
By Tuesday night, the city will have an idea who is leading in the race for mayor between Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy or Sen. Thomas McGee (D-Lynn). The fight that has been called a battle royale has, so far, been uneventful.
In the race for political donations, McGee is the clear winner. At the end of August, his campaign had $103,165 compared to just $13,552 for Kennedy, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Kennedy said she was outspent in the last two races and still managed to win.
There are council races in Ward 1 pitting incumbent Wayne Lozzi against William O’Shea III, and in Ward 3 City Council President Darren Cyr is facing George Meimeteas, and City Councilor Dianna Chakoutis is being challenged for a second time by Marven Hyppolite, the 24-year-old caseworker for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.).
There will be at least two new members of the School Committee where the mayor serves as chair.
Patricia Capano, the vice chairwoman, and Maria Carrasco, a Dominican Republic native who joined the seven-member panel in 2007, are not running.
The other members seeking re-election this year include Donna Coppola, John Ford, Lorraine Gately, and Jared Nicholson.
The handful of challengers include: Cherish Casey, Brian Castellanos, Elizabeth Rosario Gervacio, Natasha Megie-Maddrey, Jessica Murphy, and Michael Satterwhite.
Medford’s municipal preliminary election will whittle the list of 15 City Council candidates to a total of 14 that will appear on the Nov. 7 final ballot.
All seven incumbent City Councilors are seeking re-election, including Rick Caraviello, Fred Dello Russo, Jr., John Falco, Adam Knight, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Michael Marks, and George Scarpelli.
The eight challengers are Natalie Breen, Robert Cappucci, Andrew Castagnetti, Ann Marie Cugno, Cheryl Rodriguez, George Sacco, Remo Scarfo, and Curtis Tuden. Cugno is a member of the School Committee.
Two candidates for Mayor, incumbent Stephanie M. Burke and challenger David McKillop, will appear on the ballot with that race decided in November.
For Medford School Committee, five of the incumbents are seeking re-election, including Erin DeBenedetto, Kathy Kreatz, Mea Mustone, Robert E. Skerry Jr., and Paulette Van der Kloot. Challengers in the 10-candidate field include Kathleen Cullinane, Angela Moore, Alexis Rodriquez, Michael Ruggiero and Paul Ruseau.
Sample ballot and polling places are available on the city’s website: www.medfordma.org.
In Peabody, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Ward 6 for the City Council primary.
Mark O’Neill, Mike Geomelos, and Margaret Tierney are looking to replace outgoing Ward 6 Councilor Barry Sinewitz. The top two vote-getters will move on to the November general election.
