Whitman voters signaled they are ready for youthful change tempered with experience, as they elected 29-year-old newcomer Justin Evans, and re-elected incumbent Brian Bezanson, to the Board of Selectmen Saturday, May 18.
The debt exclusion question passed 746 to 522. More than 1,400 Whitman voters — 13.65-percent of the town’s 10,420 eligible voters — cast ballots in the Town Election.
Evans was the runaway top vote-getter, receiving more than 200 votes in all four precincts — for a total of 1,024 votes. He garnered 266 votes in Precinct 1; 248 in Precinct 2; 253 in Precinct 3 and 255 in Precinct 4. Bezanson received 604 votes — 158 in Precinct 1; 157 in Precinct 2; 155 in Precinct 3 and 132 in Precinct 4.
Finance Committee member Chris DiOrio finished in third place, receiving 453 votes — 110 in Precinct 1; 114 in Precinct 2; 117 in Precinct 3 and 109 in Precinct 4.
Incumbent Selectman Scott Lambiase received 434 votes — 133 in Precinct 1; 101 in Precinct 2; 96 in Precinct 3 and 104 in Precinct 4.
The remaining races on the ballot were uncontested.
For School committee in Whitman, — with two seats being filled — incumbent Dan Cullity received 875 votes and newcomer Dawn Byers garnered 1,036 votes. Incumbent Carol O’Brien received 1,115 votes as assessor. The two DPW Commissioner seats went to incumbent Kevin Cleary, with 986 votes and Bruce Varley with 965 votes. Incumbents Roberta Ellis-Drews, with 1,019 votes, and Lauren Kelley was elected with 1,111 votes, were re-elected to the Board of Library Trustees.
Katherine A. Kelleher was re-elected to the Housing Authority wit 1,043 votes. A one-year seat on the Planning Board went to Adam Somerville, who received 1,091 votes and a two-year seat went to Elaine Bergeron with 1,098 votes. Eric Joubert was re-elected to the Board of Health with 1,086 votes.
In Hanson, where there were no contested races on the ballot, and some offices had no listed candidates, turnout was extremely light, with only 137 voters casting ballots by 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
For complete coverage, see the Thursday, May 23 Whitman-Hanson Express.