Springfield has a preliminary election on Tuesday. But given the lack of contests it figures to be sleepy at the polls.
There are just three races where the field will be pared down to two candidates: For city council representing Wards Four and Six—and the District 3 school committee in Ward Seven. The top two vote-getters in each will move on to November’s general election.
The rest of the contests did not attract enough hopefuls to necessitate a preliminary for those seats.
This is a mid-term election cycle, so there is no mayoral election as Mayor Domenic Sarno is in the middle of the four-year term he won in 2023.
With so few races and without a mayoral race this election, Springfield City Clerk Gladys Oyola-Lopez said early voting has been slow and she expects more of the same on Election Day. She said holding elections is expensive, but important.
"We have to hire police officers, poll workers and really prepare as if we expect every voter in the prescient to come out," Oyola- Lopez said. "But on the flip side of that, you can't put a price on democracy, so we have to hold the elections just as if everyone was turning out."
Still, she said her staff has been busy posting signs around the city to remind voters about the preliminary and getting polling places ready.
The last time there was a mid-term election, in 2021, there was no preliminary as there were not enough candidates on the ballot.
Oyola-Lopez said some voters have been confused and have shown up to early voting hours looking to cast a preliminary ballot, only to find out there is not anything to vote on in their respective Wards until November.
On Tuesday in the Ward Four city council preliminary, incumbent Malo Brown is facing three challengers: Kenneth Barnett, Willie Naylor and Beverly Savage. There are three candidates looking to move on in Ward Six: Incumbent Victor Davila, Charles Battle and Mary Johnson.
And for the District Three school committee race, incumbent Christopher Collins is being challenged by Steven Carosello and Rosa Valentin.
