Nahant votes in new faces with uncontested races

NAHANT — The town’s annual election saw nine people, all of whom ran unopposed, elected to municipal office.

The only contested race was on the Board of Assessors, where a tie between two write-in candidates resulted in a “failure to elect.” Town Clerk Diane Dunfee said that the current members of the board could work with the Board of Selectmen to appoint someone for the remainder of the election year if they see fit.

Robert Tibbo will join the Board of Selectmen after receiving 493 votes. Tibbo will be replacing Mark Cullinan, who recently retired after decades of serving his hometown on various boards and committees, including for 17 years as town administrator. Cullinan was the board’s most recent chair, and Selectman Josh Antrim will now assume the role.

The School Committee will have two new members. Mariana Hire and Gregory Paonessa were both elected through write-in campaigns, receiving 144 and 75 votes, respectively. They will fill the seats left by Michelle Dam and Regina Laine, who each served two terms.

Dunfee was one of many incumbents who were reelected to their positions. Others included David Conlin, who was reelected as town moderator; Michelle Capano, who was reelected to the Planning Board; Robert Scanlan Jr., who was reelected as constable; and Anne Spirn, who was reelected as a Nahant Public Library trustee.

The Planning Board will also have a newcomer who led an uncontested write-in campaign. Casey Carey received 81 votes.

A total of 586 ballots were cast in Saturday’s election, which Dunfee said was a substantial increase compared to recent years.

“Two years in a row it was exactly 294, 294, and then last year it was 314 total ballots,” Dunfee said. “That’s a pretty significant increase.”

She credited the increased participation to the decision to send out mail-in ballots this year.

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