Winthrop voters cast 7,210 ballots in the November 3 state election and split one vote apart on Question 7, the initiative allowing single-family homes on small lots, 3,430 yes to 3,429 no, according to the unofficial results the town clerk’s office posted on the town website on Wednesday morning. The six-precinct table, headed “State Primary Unofficial Results” though it reports the state election, shows the town backing Senator Edward J. Markey 4,238 to 2,541 over John Deaton, Governor Maura Healey 3,960 to 2,952 over the Minogue and Oliver ticket, and Representative Jeffrey Rosario Turco of Winthrop, unopposed, with 5,166 votes, the most of anyone on the ballot.
The results are unofficial until the clerk certifies them. The posting does not list the number of registered voters, so turnout is not stated here. Ballots by precinct were 1,211 in Precinct 1, 1,335 in Precinct 2, 1,226 in Precinct 3, 912 in Precinct 4, 1,325 in Precinct 5 and 1,201 in Precinct 6.
Statewide offices
Markey’s 4,238 votes were 58.8 percent of ballots cast, to 35.2 percent for Deaton, with 131 for Shiva Ayyadurai, 150 for Joe Tache, nine write-ins and 141 blanks. Deaton ran closest in Precinct 2, 537 to 714, and furthest behind in Precinct 3, 372 to 773. Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll took 54.9 percent to 40.9 for Minogue and Oliver and 194 votes for James and Kittredge, and the Republican ticket came within 23 votes of Healey in Precinct 2, 632 to 655. Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell beat Michael C. Walsh 4,073 to 2,876; Secretary of State William Francis Galvin beat Anne R. Brensley 4,827 to 2,096; Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg beat Elizabeth Dionne 4,286 to 2,547; and Auditor Diana DiZoglio beat Al Ozonoff 5,341 to 949, with 863 blanks.
Congress, the Legislature and the county
Representative Katherine M. Clark, unopposed in the Fifth Congressional District, received 4,854 votes with 209 write-ins and 2,147 blanks. Governor’s Councillor Terrence W. Kennedy, unopposed, had 4,753. Senator Lydia Marie Edwards, unopposed, received 4,709 votes with 207 write-ins and 2,294 blanks. Turco’s 5,166 came with 279 write-ins and 1,765 blanks, the fewest blanks of any uncontested race. Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden received 4,763 and Register of Probate Stephanie L. Everett 4,605, each unopposed.
The one contested local race was the Malden vacancy on the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School Committee, which Winthrop voters help fill. James Bancroft Perry carried the town 2,609 to 1,496 over Sean M. Salazar, 64 to 36 percent, with 83 write-ins and 3,022 blanks; in Melrose Perry won 56 to 44.
The ballot questions
Winthrop approved six of the nine questions, one of them by a single vote. Question 1, extending the public records law to the Legislature and the governor’s office, passed 5,991 to 984, 86 percent. Question 2, collective bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services staff, passed 4,390 to 2,505, 64 percent. Question 3, the single state primary, failed 2,804 to 4,165, 40 to 60 percent. Question 4, election day registration, passed 3,830 to 3,112, 55 to 45. Question 5, the state revenue limit and rebate, passed 3,551 to 3,277, 52.0 to 48.0 percent, a margin of 274 votes with 382 blanks. Question 6, the natural resource conservation fund, passed 3,979 to 2,890, 58 percent. Question 7 passed 3,430 to 3,429 on the unofficial count, with 351 blanks; Precincts 3 and 6 voted yes, Precinct 6 by 636 to 514, and Precincts 1, 2, 4 and 5 voted no. Question 8, the ban on retail marijuana sales, failed 1,730 to 5,364, 24 to 76 percent. Question 9, a referendum on the 2024 firearms law in which a yes vote kept the law, passed 4,855 to 2,196, 69 percent.
By precinct, Question 5 carried all six, most narrowly in Precinct 5, 635 to 633, and Precinct 4, 428 to 419, and most comfortably in Precinct 2, 682 to 571. Question 8 lost every precinct, by margins from 617 to 281 in Precinct 4 to 1,027 to 293 in Precinct 5. The governor’s race followed the same geography as the Senate race: Healey’s widest margins came in Precincts 3 and 6, 723 to 447 and 716 to 438, and her narrowest in Precinct 2.
A one-vote result on a question will not be settled by Winthrop alone, since the statewide total decides it, but it is the closest result reported so far among the seven communities Boston North News has covered; the next closest was Lynnfield’s 26-vote margin on Question 2. On Question 5, Winthrop joined Lynn, which also voted yes by 52 to 48, and Lynnfield, 57 to 43, against the no votes in Salem, Medford, Melrose and Somerville. Winthrop’s 76 percent against the marijuana ban is close to Melrose’s 79 and Medford’s 80.
What each question asked
Questions 1 through 8 were laws proposed by initiative petition: expanding the public records law, collective bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services employees, a single state primary in place of party primaries, election day voter registration, a change to the state revenue limit and the taxpayer rebate tied to it, a natural resource conservation fund, single-family homes on small lots, and a prohibition on the retail sale of adult-use marijuana. Question 9 was a referendum on the firearms law enacted in 2024. The Winthrop table carries no tenth question.
What comes next
The table’s totals line reads 6,009 for Questions 1 through 7 and 6,076 for Questions 8 and 9, while the candidate races total 7,210, which suggests the question totals rows were carried over from a different count; the yes, no and blank figures for each question add to about 7,210 on their own. The clerk’s certified return will resolve that and will include any overseas and provisional ballots that qualify after election day. Statewide outcomes are certified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and are not asserted here.
The town’s unofficial results are posted here.
