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 | |
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.