Experts predict a tight race

By Maria Papadopoulos
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER

BROCKTON – Ward 4 resident Virginia Jeppson says she saw a lot of new faces at the polls when she cast her vote in the city’s preliminary election Tuesday.

The reason more voters turned out was because of a controversial power plant being proposed in her ward, she said.

``It’s kind of sending a message, because in Ward 4 we’re tired of being dumped on down here,'' said Jeppson, 75, who lives a half-mile from the site where Brockton Clean Energy wants to build a 350-megawatt, gas-fired power plant on a 13-acre parcel on Oak Hill Way.

Ward 4 saw 1,239 voters turn out in Tuesday’s preliminary, up more than 50 percent from 819 voters in the 2005 preliminary election.

Citywide, the preliminary brought out 19.5 percent of the city’s 42,175 registered voters, nearly double than what was predicted and 5 percent more than the 15 percent turnout seen in the 2005 preliminary. There are more than 94,000 city residents.

Elections Commissioner John McGarry said the three mayoral candidates in the preliminary, Jass Stewart, incumbent Mayor James Harrington and Gayle Kelley ``worked very hard to draw out a vote.''

Harrington received 44 percent of the vote, just 1 percent and 107 more than Stewart, who won 43 percent. The two pushed Kelley, who won 12 percent, out of the race.

Experts predict a tight race leading to the Nov. 6 election.

``The election in November can only be viewed at this time as close, perhaps even a toss up,'' said Michael Kryzanek, a political science professor at Bridgewater State College.

Each candidate had a home court advantage at the polls.

Stewart, a resident of Clyde Street in Ward 7, on the north side towards the Avon line, won there. He also took Ward 2, which is downtown, and Ward 4 on the southeast side, where the proposed power plant would be.

Harrington, who lives on Thorny Lea Terrace in Ward 1 on the West Side, took that ward – as well as wards 3, 5 and 6, which together comprise the northeast, south and southwest sections of the city. But in wards 3 and 5, Harrington just edged out Stewart by 23 and 28 votes, respectively.

The small margin of the race may serve as a wake-up call for Harrington, Kryzanek said.

``Clearly this shows that Stewart has the organizational ability to pull together people who will turn out, that he obviously has name recognition as a result of the first election'' he said. ``He’s not a newcomer.''

But as an incumbent, Harrington also has an edge, he added.

``He won the preliminary election.... His organization clearly was strong enough in order to get their vote out,'' he said.

The Nov. 6 election will see two candidates with formidable political organizations square off.

``Clearly, Stewart apparently has some money. Harrington has more, but it’s not like it’s David and Goliath,'' Kryzanek said. ``They’re able to mount television and ad campaigns on a fairly equal basis.'' And more voters will likely turn out for an interesting election, he said.

``All of a sudden, there are new faces out there and new voters and new money,'' Kryzanek said. ``To use the word toss-up, 100 votes is not a big deal.''

The highest turnout in Brockton on Tuesday was in Precinct 3C, south of downtown and bordered by Ash Street on the west, Forest Avenue on the north, the West Bridgewater town line on the south and Longwood Avenue and Grafton Street on the east.

In that precinct, 26 percent, or 512 of the 1,962 registered voters, cast a ballot in Tuesday’s preliminary. The lowest turnout in the city was in Precinct 2B, in the city’s downtown area and bordered by Augusta Avenue on the west, Prospect Street on the north, West Elm Street on the south, and Oakdale, Pleasant, Spring and Main streets on the east.

Only 117 voters of the 1,036 voters in that precinct, or 11 percent, cast a ballot on Tuesday. Precinct 2, located in the downtown area, tends to have low voter turnout in city elections, McGarry said.

``You have a lot of children in that area. You don’t have as many registered voters in those precincts as you do in others,'' he said.

McGarry is predicting a voter turnout citywide of 40 percent in November.

Tuesday’s turnout in Ward 4 illustrates the power an issue has to bring people to the polls, said Kryzanek, the political science professor.

``It’s usually about crime and it’s usually about jobs and it’s usually about schools, and those are all there,'' he said. ``But all of a sudden you’ve got this other issue (the proposed power plant) that I probably suspect surprised Harrington.''

Maria Papadopoulos can be reached at mpapadopoulos@enterprisenews.com.