Though Republican Charlie Baker took the statewide gubernatorial vote by a very narrow margin – Chelsea voters overwhelmingly came out for his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Martha Coakley in Tuesday’s voting action.
Voter turnout was brisk for Chelsea, with precincts in Prattville steady nearly all day long. There was a 36.1 percent turnout and 5,144 ballots cast out of the 14,239 registered voters.
Chelsea voters cast 3,234 votes for 66 percent of the vote in Coakley’s favor, while giving Baker just 1,462 votes for 30 percent. That came in a reverse trend of the statewide vote where Baker took the election unofficially by 1 percentage point – winning 48 percent to 47 percent with a prevailing margin of about 35,000 votes.
Though it was close statewide, it was a landslide in Chelsea for Coakley. Though that is not surprise, it did come in the face of Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash heavily supporting Baker’s campaign – even giving the Republican a vote of confidence (as a City Manager, he cannot endorse) during a campaign stop in Chelsea last September.
The only other candidate in Chelsea to top 100 votes was Independent Evan Falchuk – who got 107 for 2 percent.
The only other close race on the Chelsea ballot was for Question 1, which dealt with repealing the indexing of the state’s gas tax to the Consumer Price Index. Under the law, the gas tax would have automatically gone up with the cost of living, requiring no vote of the Legislature. That plan would have gone into effect next year, but was voted down on Tuesday.
In Chelsea, Question 1 did not prevail, losing by 27 votes. Some 2,062 people voted to repeal the gas tax indexing (49.6 percent), while 2,089 voted not to repeal it (50.3 percent)
Statewide, the race was also close, but the ‘Yes’ vote prevailed and the indexing of the gas tax has been repealed from law.
On the other questions, Chelsea easily shot down the repeal of the casino law (Question 3), with 60 percent (2,821 votes) wanting to keep the Everett casino in place. Some 1,889 votes (40 percent) voted to repeal the law. Statewide, the results were almost identical with a 40-60 split and the casino repeal effort failing.
Question 4, which dealt with mandated sick time, passed easily and was likely bolstered by efforts from labor unions and community organizing groups that were very active among hospitality workers in the city.
A total of 3,570 votes (74 percent) came out for mandatory earned sick time, while 1,263 voters (26 percent) voted it down. Statewide, the earned sick time questions won handily as well.
The bottle bill question, Question 2, was embarrassed statewide and in Chelsea – melting under the fire of voter angst. In Chelsea, the bottle bill expansion lost by a vote of 33 percent to 67 percent. Statewide, more than 70 percent of voters rejected the idea, which would have required putting a 5-cent deposit on water bottles and sport drinks as is done with beer and soda pop bottles now.
Locally, all of the state delegation was unopposed, cruising to an easy victory.
- State Sen. Sal DiDomenico got 97 percent of the vote (3,833 votes).
- State Rep. Dan Ryan got 97 percent of the vote (2,586 votes).
- State Rep. RoseLee Vincent got 96 percent of the vote (1,152 votes).
The only other race on the Chelsea ballot that had a sliver of competition was that of State Treasurer, where Democrat Deb Goldberg got 73 percent to Republican Michael Heffernan’s 23 percent. Goldberg won comfortably in the statewide vote.
Other winners locally included (all local winners won statewide as well unless noted):
- U.S. Sen. Ed Markey with 80 percent of the vote over Republican Brian Herr with 19 percent.
- Charlestown resident Maura Healy with 78 percent of the vote for Attorney General over Republican John Miller with 21 percent of the vote.
- Secretary of State William Galvin with 80 percent of the vote over Malden Republican David D’Arcangelo with 16 percent.
- Auditor Suzanne Bump won 73 percent of the vote over Republican Patricia St. Albin with 22 percent of the vote.
- Congressman Michael Capuano won an unopposed race with 97 percent of the vote.
- Governor’s Councillor Terrence Kennedy won with 80 percent of the vote over Republican Vincent Dixon with 19 percent.
- District Attorney Dan Conley won an unopposed race with 97 percent of the vote.
- Democrat Felix Arroyo won an unopposed race for Suffolk County Registrar of Probate with 97 percent of the vote.
- Sheriff Steven Tompkins won 82 percent of the vote over Independent Hassan Smith’s 17 percent.
Baker vs. Coakley in Chelsea – Precinct by Precinct
1-1 Waterfront
Baker 82
Coakley 170
1-2 Lower Broadway
Baker 40
Coakley 120
1-3 Central Business/East Hills
Baker 44
Coakley 166
1-4 Marginal Street
Baker 20
Coakley 134
2-1 Admiral’s Hill
Baker 283
Coakley 407
2-2 Everett Ave
Baker 45
Coakley 191
2-3 Lower Broadway West
Baker 30
Coakley 104
2-4 Williams School
Baker 28
Coakley 163
3-1 Central Broadway
Baker 57
Coakley 183
3-2 Mill Hill
Baker 87
Coakley 223
3-3 Cary Square
Baker 58
Coakley 220
3-4 Washington Ave
Baker 86
Coakley 232
4-1 Parkway
Baker 105
Coakley 207
4-2 Prattville North
Baker 203
Coakley 259
4-3 Prattville South
Baker 167
Coakley 230
4-4 Soldier’s Home
Baker 127
Coakley 225
Cutline –
poll worker
Precinct Director James O’Regan surveys the voting at the Prattville Public Safety Building on Tuesday morning, where voting was steady all day long. Some 36.1 percent of the Chelsea vote showed up Tuesday.
PollWorker2 –
Marguerite Greco and Priscilla Montefusco work the polls in Prattville on Tuesday.