Share This Article
The Select Board’s Office issued a statement Wednesday, two days after the town election, explaining the vote counting process.
“We understand there is a lot of interest in the results of the March 30, 2026 Annual Town Election,” the statement said.
Julie Durgin and Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco were elected to the two seats, despite a strong showing by write-in candidate Jonathan Sullivan. Unofficial results showed Lederer-DeFrancesco edging Sullivan by 15 votes, 1,452 to 1,437. Durgin topped the Sudbury School Committee (SPS) vote total with 1,566 votes.
Andrew Sheehan, town manager, said the town decided to post the statement because “there was a lot of chatter around the election, and we were trying to get information out to clarify the process. We have no reason to be concerned about the steps that were taken as the votes were counted Monday night. We have full faith that the election ran in the way it was supposed to be run, and there were no anomalies.”
The Select Board’s Office statement described the vote counting process and how vote totals change in the course of that process.
The vote totals from the tabulator machines are posted shortly after the polls close. While those totals include the number of write-in votes, they cannot indicate who those write-in votes were for.
All tabulated ballots are then reviewed for write-in votes, and those write-in votes are counted by hand for each write-in candidate. The total indicates that 32 of the SPS committee write-in votes were for candidates other than Sullivan.
In addition, the statement noted: “Ballots that could not be read or counted by the machine are often referred to as ‘hand count’ or ‘add in’ ballots. These ballots are manually placed in a special compartment in the machine in full view of the voter. As the machine did not count any races on the ballot, each office must be tallied and recorded. These votes are also added to the machine totals.” Those ballots could contain votes for any candidates on the ballot and would, therefore, increase the vote totals for those candidates, including the two on the ballot for the SPS committee and any write-in candidates.
The Select Board’s Office statement said it expects “confirmed results” later this week. As of Thursday afternoon, the designation “unofficial” had been removed from the posted election results.
The statement also includes information on petitioning for a recount. A recount petition must be filed by April 9. Sudbury Weekly has asked Sullivan if he plans to file for a recount but has not yet received a response.
Nancy Brumback is a freelance reporter who lives in Sudbury.