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JUNE 25, 2026 | FREE
Petitioners trigger override vote recount By Trent Levakis
tlevakis@thereminder.com
EDITION EASTHAMPTON
Council approves two tax relief orders The City Council passed orders to help alleviate tax burdens.
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NORTHAMPTON
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Academy of Music chooses new director Raymond Dumont will take over as the theater’s new executive director.
ble voters who did not get an opportunity to vote. These individuals raised a concern with me, saying ‘I have no idea if my vote was counted or not,’” said Wauczinski. “Was anybody denied the opportunity to vote?” She said that she believes the mistake of empty mail-in ballots comes from human error, but she added that if people did not get an opportunity to vote because of human error, then the results of the election could be invalid.
“The reality is there’s probably going to be some ‘yes’ votes from the people who didn’t get a chance to vote with those mail-in ballots not being present, but everybody should have the opportunity to vote if they wanted to, regardless of whether the nos or the yeses win in the end. If there’s a problem with the process and people didn’t get an opportunity to cast their votes, then that needs See RECOUNT on page 10
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tive Citizens, led the “Vote No” Campaign and spearheaded the effort to collect the signatures that triggered the recount. Wauczinski told Reminder Publishing that the organizations want a recount to make sure the voting process is fundamentally sound and for transparency in the election process after hearing these claims were made. “I think the biggest reason for the recount is the fact that there are people who are eligi-
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Reminder Publishing file photo
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Voters lined up outside of City Hall and the polls at Easthampton High School to express support both ways for the city’s special election override vote, which ended up passing by a 3,312-3,073 vote.
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EASTHAMPTON — The city will officially hold a recount of votes from the June 9 special election override after petitioners collected enough signatures to trigger such a situation. The Board of Registrars is set to meet sometime during the week of June 22 to set a date for the recount. As of press time, a meeting date for the registrars had not yet been set. The $6.9 million Proposition 2½ override passed through a 3,312-3,073 vote, but days after the special city election, claims of issues with the distribution, handling, and processing of mail-in ballots for said election have been made. A formal effort to trigger a recount was successful after petitioners collected at least 10 signatures from registered voters in each of the city’s five precincts. These signatures were submitted on June 17 and were certified the following day by the City Clerk’s office. Leading this effort are members of the Easthampton Republican Committee and Easthampton Active Citizens, who requested a hand count of all ballots cast in an effort to ensure transparency after claims were made that various residents received empty mail-in ballots that were missing the ballot itself or didn’t receive any at all leading up to election day. Republican Committee Chair Cathy Wauczinski, who also co-founded Easthampton Ac-
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