April 8, 1997
FRAMINGHAM, MA - Today was a historic day for the town of Framingham Massachusetts as voters
cast more than twice as many votes to turn back a proposed charter that would have transformed
the largest town in the state into just another medium sized city.
Announcing the election results in a press conference held in the Ablondi Room of the
Memorial Building, Town Clerk George King declared the charter ballot question had lost
by a 30 percent to 70 percent margin.
At 9:15pm, with all votes in, King's unverified tally showed that 11,892 had voted on the ballot
question, and that only 3647 were YES votes, while 8245 voters sent a loud and clear NO!
Unless contested, the percentage of NO to YES votes not only strikes down the proposed charter
in this election, but also eliminates any chance that the same charter could be put before voters
in the next election, due to a rule which would have allowed the issue to live another year had
it gotten 35 percent of the vote.
Many who feel there's a historic value to the claim of nearly three centurys under a town meeting form
of government are relieved that there isn't much chance of Framingham becoming a city before the
Town's 300th Anniversary on June 5, 2000.
Outside the Ablondi Room, Town Manager Russell Marcoux was congratulated on his own personal
victory that came with the charter's defeat, his position would have been eliminated under
the proposed city government.
In another closely watched race, candidate for selectmen John Kanh (5959 votes), defeated
opponent Charlie Sisitstky (4986 votes). |
Framingham Town Clerk, George King, tallied the final vote counts then broke the news that the Charter had been defeated. Framingham Police Officer Rick Thompson delivered the last precinct's results to the Town Clerk's office at approximately 9:05pm. Since the town election is almost completely computerized; from the bar coded voter lists, to the optical-scanned ballots, it was possible to announce the races which do not involve write-in candidates in a matter of minutes. |