Election results Saturday night announced Eugene Canty as the unofficial winner of Nahant’s vacant Board of Selectmen seat.
Although official numbers will be finalized at the beginning of next week, polls showed Canty won by a slim three-vote margin — 655 to 652 — against competitor David Walsh.
Results are subject to change, however, as election officials continue to tally absentee ballots and recount votes throughout the weekend.
“I feel pretty good,” Canty said as he campaigned outside Nahant Town Hall Saturday afternoon. “You hate to say that in case things change, but I feel good.”
As she made her way to the Town Hall to vote Saturday afternoon, resident Megan Conlin said the issue at the forefront of her mind was the town’s budget.
“We have a sewer issue as I understand, (and) we have other things going on financially, so I’m interested in making choices for the town in terms of our financial future,” she said.
Although she declined to say who she would be voting for, Conlin said the ongoing issue regarding Northeastern University’s Nahant expansion project would be an influencing factor in her choice for selectman.
“I don’t believe they should be building the large-scale building that they are planning there, and I’m motivated to help stop that,” she said.
Perhaps one of the most contentious issues of Nahant’s election season, both candidates have expressed strong views on Northeastern’s future expansion plans, with environmentally-minded Canty stating he would “embrace the opportunity to sit down with representatives from NU” to discuss the university’s goals and also to question why the school feels “destroying parts of an area zoned as a Natural Resource district helps to promote sustainability.”
In a post on Facebook, Walsh said it was necessary for the town to work together with the school.
“It is incumbent upon the selectmen, the Town Manager, and other boards and committees to work to resolve the impasse that currently exists in a manner which is beneficial to the Town, the taxpayers, and the ecosystem, and to keep NU as a good neighbor and benefactor to the Town,” he said.
Not quite as passionate as others about the issue, voter Pat McArdle said simply that her biggest concern going into the polling station was making sure the town “continues (its) professionalism.”
She also declined to reveal who she had voted for, but said: “I am thrilled with the fact that we have so many qualified people running this time. It’s wonderful. Any of them would be any good.”
Other unofficial winners of Saturday’s election included David Conlin for Town Moderator, Diane Savage Dunfee for Town Clerk, and Robert Scanlan for constable.
