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FRAMINGHAM – Today, Tuesday, November 2 is election day in Framingham. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Today, voters will elect a mayor for 4 years, 9 District City Councilors for 2 years, 9 District School Committee members for 2 years, 6 library Trustees for 4 years and 3 Cemetery Trustees.

The most widely-known race is the one for Mayor.

In November 2017, Yvonne Spicer was elected to become the city’s first-ever mayor. Now she wants voters to re-elect her for a second term.

Challenging her is former City Councilor and Selectman Charlie Sisitsky, a retired Town of Natick DPW Director.

Sisitsky won the 3-way preliminary election for Mayor with more than 4,400 votes. Spicer came in second to be on the November ballot but received less than 2,000 votes.

SOURCE asked both candidates a series of questions, that were Framingham-specific and very detailed. You can read Sisitsky’s answers here. Spicer did not respond to the Q&A.

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Assistant City Clerk Emily Butler said there are 39,928 registered voters for this election.

Polls will be open on Tuesday, November 2 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Don’t know what Precinct or District you are in? Don’t know where to vote? Click here.

City Clerk Lisa Ferguson stressed if you have a mail in ballot do NOT mail it today. Instead, drop it off at one of three locations.

Drop off mail in ballots at:

  • City Clerk’s office at the Memorial Building, 150 Concord Street.
  • Drop off box outside of City Hall. It is monitored by video and police.
  • Drop off box outside of the Christa McAuliffe Library branch on Water Street. It is also monitored.
  • DO NOT drop off mail in ballots at your normal voting location on election day.

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City Council races

Back to the election, there are five contested City Council races out of the 9 City Council districts.

Two current District City Councilors Robert Case in District 5 and Margareth Shepard in District 7 chose not to seek re-election.

Current Councilors Christine Long in District 1, Mike Cannon in District 4, Phil Ottaviani Jr. in District 6 and John Stefanini in District 8 are running unopposed.

Editor’s Note: SOURCE sent a Q&A to each of the four candidates. Half responded. If they responded there name is bold and blue and hyperlinked to their answers.

The following districts – 2, 3, 5, 7, & 9 have contested races.

In District 2, Councilor Cesar Stewart Morales is being challenged by law student Jake Binnall.

In District 3, Councilor Adam Steiner is being challenged by small business owner and SIFOC Vice Chair Mary Kate Feeney.

In District 5, two former School Committee members are running for City Council. They are Noval Alexander and Cheryl Gordon.

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In District 7, immigrant and healthcare worker Magda Janus and executive director of Beantown Jewish Gardens Leora Mallach are vying for the City Council seat.

Finally in District 9, the first-ever City Council for District 9 Edgardo Torres is challenging current Councilor Tracey Bryant for the 2-year seat.

School Committee – no races on the ballot.

The Framingham School Committee is comprised of 9 District members elected every 2 years.

Incumbent School Committee members Geoffrey Epstein in District 6 and Scott Wadland in District 3 announced they would not seek re-election this spring.

On the ballot, voters will see all the races are uncontested.

But in District 9 there is a write-in candidate Scott Hayes challenging the incumbent member Will LaBarge.

SOURCE sent a Q&A to all of the School Committee candidates on the ballot. Some chose not to respond to the questionaire.

District 1 – Beverly Hugo – up for re-election

District 2 – Ricky Finlay

District 3 – Jenn Moshe

District 4 – Adam Freudberg – up for re-election

District 5 – Priscila Sousa – up for re-election

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District 6 – Valerie Ottaviani

District 7 Tiffanie Maskell – up for re-election

District 8 – Jessica Barnhill – up for re-election

Library & Cemetery Trustee Races

There are eight individuals on the ballot for 6 Framingham Library Trustee seats on November 2.

Half of the members of the Framingham Board of Trustee seats will be elected in 2021 for a 4-year term.

Two individuals on the ballot are seeking re-election to the Board of Trustees.

They are current Board chair Ruth Winett and Steven Malchman.

Since the last election two Trustees resigned and two individuals were appointed to fulfill the rest of that term by a joint vote of the City Council and the Framingham Library Trustees. Those individuals are Heather Klish and Millie Gonzalez. Klish is on the ballot seeking election to the Board. Gonzalez chose not to run.

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The individuals, in order of when they pulled nomination papers, are:

( If an individual’s name is hyperlinked, it will take you to their candidacy announcement per the SOURCE election policy. All candidates were invited to submit an announcement on why they are running. Only 4 submitted.)

Editor’s Note: As the SOURCE editor/publisher is related to one of the candidates, there is no election coverage of the race, beyond the opportunity for all 8 candidates to submit an announcement on why they are running by July 31. Four of the 8 candidates submitted an announcement.

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There are three candidates for three 4-year terms on as Framingham Cemetery Trustee. They are:

  • Dennis Cardiff – up for re-election
  • Nick Paganella
  • Julie Ann Dickson-Ferrari

By editor

Susan Petroni is the former editor for SOURCE. She is the founder of the former news site, which as of May 1, 2023, is now a self-publishing community bulletin board. The website no longer has a journalist but a webmaster.