China voting results from March 3 presidential primary

by Mary Grow

Two of the three candidates for the vacant seat on the China Board of Selectmen were separated by a single vote at the end of March 3 voting.

Town Clerk Becky Hapgood reported Janet Preston got 415 votes, Christopher Hahn 414 votes and Kevin Rhoades 299 votes. The votes were counted repeatedly, Hapgood said, to confirm the close result. If there is a recount, she hopes it can be done by March 6.

The new selectman will fill out Jeffrey LaVerdiere’s unexpired term, until China’s November local elections.

In other voting, Hapgood reported:

• In the state-wide people’s veto referendum on the new state law limiting exemptions from vaccination requirements, 407 people voted yes (to repeal the law) and 851 voted no (to keep the law).
• In the Democratic primary election, Joe Biden received 196 votes, Bernie Sanders 150, Elizabeth Warren 78, Michael Bloomberg 60, and Pete Buttigieg 11 (though he has ended his candidacy). Five other people on the ballot got fewer than 10 votes each, and two got no votes. Tulsi Gabbard is the only one of the seven still in the race.
• In the Republican primary election, Donald Trump, unopposed on the ballot, received 425 votes.

Hapgood had not had time Tuesday evening to figure total turnout; it was more than 1,260, she said, and high enough so China ran out of some ballots and had to get approval from the Secretary of State’s office to make photocopies. About 30 new voters registered and about 100 enrolled in a party during polling hours, she said.