WESTFIELD–Surprisingly, Westfield and other local towns voted for Donald Trump in an interesting and well-attended Election day.
Voters came to the polls in spite of Massachusetts being a predominantly blue state, looking to make their voices heard through their choices and to answer four pivotal questions on this year’s ballot. Also up for grabs were two state senator spots, a US representative seat and a sheriff position.
And in the end, Trump won several municipalities in the Commonwealth, including Westfield, Southwick, Tolland and Blandford.
“If you don’t vote you can’t complain,” Rose Salzer said.
“You may as well participate so you can complain,” Rebecca Salzer said.
Rebecca Salzer was with her mother Rose, as they voted at the Franklin Avenue School.
Joe Hutchinson, who voted at Westfield Technical Academy, knew why he came out to vote but was unsure if he made the right decision.
“I want to see something better for the country,” Hutchinson said. “I just hope I made the right choice.”
Westfield city clerk Karen Fanion said that the voter turnout was on par with the levels that they normally experience, but did not set any records. Fanion reported a 74.98 percent voter turnout.
Other local voter turnouts were Southwick at 75.53 percent, Blandford at 80 percent and Tolland at 79.75 percent.
Each town followed suit with Westfield regarding voting, going in favor of Trump and Pence over Clinton and Kaine; voting in favor of Sen. Don Humason over JD Parker-O’Grady; voting in US Rep. Richard Neal over Libertarian Thomas Simmons and independent Frederick Mayock; and Nick Cocchi in favor John Comerford and James Gill by a wide margin.
Regarding the ballot questions, Westfield and the towns all voted “no” on questions one and two, while “yes” on three and four.
State Rep. John Velis and 8th District Councilor Mary Hurley each ran unopposed for their current posts and won handily, as well.
In other town races, William Pignatelli won his unopposed race for the Representative for 4th Berkshire General Court in both Tolland and Blandford, while the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden County senate seat was voted in favor of Christine Canning over Adam Hinds in Blandford.
“I think we had a great day today,” Fanion said. “I think early voting helped keep the lines shorter today which was a great benefit.”
And while the decision of who to choose for president was important, the local impact could be especially felt in the questions.
“The questions brought me out,” Jessica Bekech said in front of Franklin Avenue School, where she casted her vote. “Most specifically I wanted to vote no on [question two] because it hurts our public schools.”
Question two would have lifted the cap on charter schools allowed in Massachusetts cities and towns, but failed by a large margin statewide.
Bekech said that she also voted yes on question four, which passed and now allows for the sale of recreational marijuana to people 21 and over in the state, beginning in 2018.
Bekech said that she voted in favor of question four because she wanted to see marijuana arrests go down to limit the impact on the prison system. Additionally, she felt that the drug can be used to help treat certain addictions.
“It’s been clinically proven to be helpful to people who are addicted to heroin,” she said.
This claim has not been proven yet, but advocates have pointed to studies in the Journal of Pain that found that medical cannabis use did reduce opioid use of chronic pain sufferers. Other studies have found similar findings, including one in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Other questions on the ballot were one and three. Question one was in response to another slot parlor in the state and failed by a wide margin. Question three was related to inhumane captivity of farm animals, which passed statewide at a near 3:1 margin.
For the complete vote recap of Westfield, check out The Westfield News interactive election charts on our web site, www.thewestfieldnews.com.
