Five votes was enough to get elected in Franklin

FRANKLIN — Mayor Tony Giunta, who easily won re-election, was the top vote-getter in Tuesday’s municipal election. But in an election marked by low turnout, one person managed to get elected to the School Board with just five votes.

Giunta was elected to another term, outpolling challengers Leigh Webb and David Furbish. Giunta won in each of the city’s three wards, although in Ward 3 he beat Webb by just one vote. The final tally was Giunta, 567 votes; Webb, 396 votes; and Furbish, 45.

In Ward 2, where no one filed for School Board, Paul Doucette, was elected with five write-in votes. Roy Hubble received 12 write-in votes, but since Hubble does not live in Ward 2 he was disqualified from serving, according to the City Clerk Katie Gargano.

Doucette, however, lost his bid to be elected to the City Council. He came in second in a three-way race, losing by 10 votes to Olivia Zink. The final tally was Zink, 144 votes; Doucette, 134; and Desiree McLaughlin, 13. Incumbent Vincent Ribas did not seek re-election.

In the only race where an incumbent was defeated, April Bunker defeated Ward 3 City Councilor Kathy Lauer-Rago by a vote of 209 to 173.

Ward 1 City Councilor Arthur “Ted” Starkweather was re-elected, defeating Timothy Johnson, 211 votes to 115.

School Board member and current chairman Timothy Dow, who ran unopposed for the Ward 3 seat, was re-elected handily. He received 303 votes.

For Ward 1 School Board, Cecile Cormier was elected, receiving 147 write-in votes. No candidate filed to run for that seat.

Voters approved allowing the operation of a sports betting location in the city by a vote of 527 to 354.

Turnout for the election was low, with just over 19 percent of the city’s registered voters casting ballots. But the turnout was almost double what it was in last year’s municipal election, according to Gargano,