There are 15,612 registered voters in the Town of Acton. Thirty-three percent of those voters, or 5185, cast a ballot on “Super Tuesday,” March 5, when voters in 16 states and one territory headed to the polls in the largest contest so far in the 2024 presidential primary.” (NBC news report) Of those 15,612 Acton voters, 4239 are registered Democrat; 890 are registered Republican; 30 are registered libertarian; and 10,372 are registered unenrolled, according to the state election results posted by the Town.
Among those who selected a Democratic ballot, 86% voted for Joseph R. Biden for president of the United States, among a slate of three. Ninety percent voted for Jamie B. Eldridge for Democratic Party State Committee Man for the Middlesex and Worcester District; and 80% voted for Kara M. Le Treize for Party State Committee Woman for the District. Both Eldridge and Le Treize ran unopposed. Thirty-two Town Democratic Committee members were voted in. Town committee members, despite their name, are associated with the state political party, not with the town. According to the website of the Secretary of State of Massachusetts, their duties include representing their party at the local and neighborhood level; promoting the objectives of the party; and working for the nomination and election of party candidates.
Republican presidential primary results showed Nikki Haley with 64% and Donald J. Trump with 32% of the Acton vote, from a slate of 7 candidates. David H. Lunger ran unopposed for Republican Party State Committee Man for the Middlesex and Worcester District, and received 58% of the Acton vote; Caroline Stewart Cunningham also ran unopposed, for Republican Party State Committee Woman for the District, and received 50% of the vote. A write-in candidate for Republican Party State Committee Woman in the District, Dorothy A. Bisson, received 5% of the vote. Twelve Town Republican Committee members were elected.
On the Libertarian ballot, Chase Russell Oliver received twenty-five percent of the 28 Acton votes (7 votes), among a slate of five candidates. Walter J. Ziobro ran unopposed for Libertarian Party State Committee Man in the Middlesex and Worcester District, and received 64% of the Acton votes (18 votes). There was no one on the slate for Libertarian Party State Committee Woman or Town Committee.
Asked to comment on the March 5 elections, Republican Town Committee Chair David Lunger said he was surprised and dismayed by the results. “The story of Super Tuesday here in Acton was the Super Flooding of Republican ballot requests, which for Acton and our district as a whole, diluted our conservative vote,” he said. “With about nine hundred Republicans plus what I estimate at 500 additional conservative-leaning unenrolled voters, an additional 400 plus ballots were requested apparently by cross-overs from left-leaning unenrolled voters. This alone is enough to spark future calls to needed closed primaries, as all we’ve done by this is to move the political discourse towards ‘uni-party’ rule. If parties don’t stand for certain principles, they stand for nothing.”
Democratic Town Committee Chair Ellen Valade said Acton’s turnout at the Presidential primaries was low at thirty-three percent (71% voted in the 2020 presidential primaries). “But that was to be expected given that the nominees of the two major parties were largely decided on the date of this vote,” she said.
“We’re grateful for the residents of Acton who actively participated in this election,” Valade said. “While turnout is important at every level, we hope to see an even stronger showing for upcoming town, state, and national elections.” She encouraged people to vote and to encourage their friends and family to do the same, adding, “Democracy depends on participation!”
Franny Osman has been on the team creating the Acton Exchange since they began in March, 2023.
