Election 2001 - Cambridge, Massachusetts
(updated 16 Jan 2004)

Elected to the City Council are (in order of election) Anthony Galluccio, Brian Murphy, Henrietta Davis, Marjorie Decker, Tim Toomey, Denise Simmons, Michael Sullivan, David Maher, and Ken Reeves.

Elected to the School Committee are (in order of election) Alice Turkel, Fred Fantini, Joe Grassi, Nancy Walser, Alan Price, and Richard Harding. In the original count, the last three candidates (Nancy Walser, Richard Harding, and Susana Segat) were separated by only 7 votes. The margins increased in the recount.

A recount in the School Committee election began on Monday, Nov 26 and was completed on Monday, Dec 10. It was conducted at the old offices of the Cambridge Election Commission at 362 Green Street (Police Station building). Due to the quasi-random nature of surplus distribution of ballots and the closeness of the election, the recount was almost the equivalent of a re-rolling of the dice. However, the recount produced the same winners.

George Goverman, Auditor of the Recount, has written a report on the School Committee Recount for the Center for Voting and Democracy. Here it is:  COUNT 'EM AGAIN, SAM

A number of people have expressed interest in taking steps to make some technical changes to the Cambridge election system to eliminate the element of chance in surplus distribution and the need to specify the order in which ballots are drawn from each of the 42 precincts (shortly to be 33 precincts). If you would like to be part of this advocacy, contact Robert@rwinters.com. There will also be efforts to change other aspects of the election and recount procedures so that future recounts can be done more quickly, at lower cost, and more understandably.

Question 1 (Community Preservation Act) passed by a 71% to 29% vote. 

The Candidates of 2001
City Council candidates Year of Birth, Occupation
James Condit, 164 Raymond St., 02140 1964, programmer
Henrietta Davis, 120 Chestnut St., 02139 - ELECTED 1945, city councillor
Marjorie Decker, 55 Magazine St, 02139 - ELECTED 1972, legislative aide
Vince Dixon, 287 Harvard St., 02139 1952, consultant
Anthony Galluccio, 30 Normandy St., 02138 - ELECTED 1967, city councillor
Robert Hall, 364 Rindge Ave., 02140 1950, economist
Jacob Horowitz, 101 Western Ave. #21, 02139 1977, newspaper editor
Steve Iskovitz, 60 Bishop Allen Dr., 02139 1960, mental health counselor
Steven Jens, 20 Lee St., 02139 1976, computer programmer
Ethridge King, 34 River St., 02139 1965, assistant director
David Maher, 120 Appleton St., 02138 - ELECTED 1958, city councillor
Brian Murphy, 22 Mt. Auburn St., 02138 - ELECTED 1964, political consultant
Helder "Sonny" Peixoto, 163 Webster Ave., 02141 1972, public safety official
John Pitkin, 18 Fayette St., 02139 1944, consultant
Ken Reeves, 340 Harvard St., 02139 - ELECTED 1951, attorney
E. Denise Simmons, 188 Harvard St., 02139 - ELECTED 1951, public official
Michael Sullivan, 42 Huron Ave., 02138 - ELECTED 1959, city councillor
Tim Toomey, 88 6th St., 02141 - ELECTED 1953, city councillor
James Williamson, 17 Perry St., 02139 1951, public interest advocate
19 candidates for 9 seats.
School Committee candidates Year of Birth, Occupation
Fred Baker, 109 Inman St., 02139 1971, research engineer
Vincent Delaney, 7 Jackson Gardens, 02139 1966, banking official
Marla Erlien, 23 Greenough Ave., 02139 1946, editor
Fred Fantini, 4 Canal Pk., 02141 - ELECTED 1949, assistant treasurer
Joe Grassi, 393 Cambridge St., 02141 - ELECTED 1967, school committee
Richard Harding, 187 Windsor St., 02139 - ELECTED 1972, administrator
Alan Price, 15 Corp. Burns Rd., 02138 - ELECTED 1963, consultant
Susana M. Segat, 94 Wendell St., 02138 1956, administrator
Alice Turkel, 12 Upton St., 02139 - ELECTED 1956, housewife
Nancy Walser, 335 Huron Ave., 02138 - ELECTED  
10 candidates for 6 seats
Ward and Precinct totals for the School Committee Recount (PDF)

School Committee Recount Results
(Nov 26 - Dec 10)

Official Election Results (Nov 7)
(City Council and School Committee)

Printable version of the City Council
and School Committee Election Results (PDF)

City Council and School Committee rankings
(number of 1's, 2's, etc. for each candidate)


Number One Votes By Ward And Precinct - Cambridge City Council 2001

Printable version of the City Council #1 Vote Distribution by Precinct (PDF)

Distribution of #2 Preferences
2001 Cambridge City Council Election


Distribution of #2 Preferences
2001 School Committee Election

Number One Votes By Ward And Precinct - Cambridge School Committee 2001


A History of Close Elections in Cambridge
(1941 to present)

Bar Graphs of the City Council race
(link to Craig Watson's site)

Random Draw of Precincts - The order in which ballots from the 42 precincts of Cambridge are counted for the purpose of surplus vote distribution and transfer of ballots from defeated candidates is determined by lottery six days prior to Election Day. The random drawing took place on October 31.

The Replacements - who would replace each of the nine elected councillors should one of their seats be vacated during the Council term

Campaign Finance Reports - 2001

Some legal references specific to the Cambridge elections:
Chapter 54A of the Mass. General Laws. (PDF)
Chapter 54A of the Mass. General Laws. (HTML)
These are taken from an older edition of the Massachusetts General Laws (since Chapter 54A was repealed around 1972). Additional references:
(1) McSweeney v. City of Cambridge, 422 Mass. 648, 649 n. 2 [1996]; and
(2) Mayor of Gloucester vs. City Clerk of Gloucester, 327 Mass. 460 (1951)
(3) G. D'Andelot Belin vs. Secretary of the Commonwealth, 362 Mass. 530. [1972]
(4) Also of some interest is Moore vs. Election Commissioners of Cambridge, 309 Mass. 303, 35 N.E.2d 222 (1941).
(5) You may be interested to learn that Mayor Galluccio's father, former School Committee member Anthony Galluccio (Sr.), once successfully took the Cambridge Election Commission to court over their decision to not list who the incumbents were on the ballot. The case is Anthony Galluccio vs. Election Commissioners of Cambridge, 339 Mass. 587 (1959).


Election Commission Chair Rusty Drugan
announces the results on Nov 7, 2001.
Commissioner Artis Spears is also pictured.

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