Photo: Election workers

Dear Neighbors and Voters of Belmont:

While many Americans are focused on the results of the Nov. 3  Presidential Election, I  call special attention to our fellow Belmont neighbors who served as election workers to guarantee the rightful exercise of our treasured right to vote, even in the midst of a global pandemic.  They did a fabulous job and need to be recognized for their work:

The Official Election Results for Belmont have not yet been finalized, but the official results will be certified by Nov. 18.  

Exactly 81.99 percent of Belmont’s voters cast ballots in the Nov. 3 election. That’s 15,038  people – of whom more than 12,100 voted during the fourteen days of the In-Person Early Voting period or Voted by Mail. The conclusion: a vigorously active electorate and even more amazing election workers and staff. We enjoyed expert assistance from many town departments, but most particularly the Police, Public Works, Fire, Library, Council on Aging, School Department, Facilities, Treasurer, Information Technology, Community Development, Select Board’s office, Health Department, Emergency Management and others. Lastly, the members of the press/media covering Belmont, each of our media outlets, got the word out to our residents to let them know the details of voting which really made a difference.

More than 200 election workers were trained and ready to go; 116 actually wound up working during the Early Voting Period or on Election Day itself along with the fantastic, hard-working staff of the Town Clerk’s office :

• Rising before the sun to arrive at the polls by 6 a.m. and be open to voters by 7 a.m.:
• Happily greeting every voter;
• Checking in and out thousands of voters and processing absentee and early voting ballots, some routine, some needing extra help;
• Researching voter information so voters who needed to go to a different precinct or community to vote could do so;
• Helping voters who needed a little physical help or extra time;
• Expertly responding to hundreds of phone calls from precinct election workers and voters from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Election Day and many days before and after;
• Opening and tabulating more than 10,000 Early Voting ballots, while ensuring a secret ballot for all voters;
• Posting signs, now-famous blue arrows to direct voters along with COVID-19 reminders;
• Giving up hours at home with family in the evenings and even holiday weekends;
• Scheduling the workers like an air traffic controller;
• Processing and mailing more than 2,000 Absentee Ballots, including hundreds to Members of the Military and Overseas Citizens;
• Registering 1,973 new voters since Jan. 1, 2020 and deleting many more so they could vote in their new communities;
• Keeping everyone’s spirits buoyed, even when face-to-face with an angry voter when we made a mistake;
• Closing out the polls, accounting for every ballots and all the legal requirements so we could post Belmont’s results to the website;
• Most importantly, enjoying one another’s company and looking forward to working the next Belmont election.

We are extremely proud of the work these folks accomplished to make Belmont’s election a huge success with accurate results and we thank them sincerely for their efforts, their attitude and their willingness to participate so wonderfully in this open election process. 

When you see them around town, we encourage you to thank them in person.

With thanks and in awe of:

Alana	Aubin
Annah	Abrams
Bruce	Alger
Katherine	Anderson
Angela	Carini
Claus	Becker
Jessie	Bennett
Irina	Berlin
Woody	Bishop
Irene	Bocella
Sarah	Boyle
Liane	Brecknock
Carol	Burt
Catherine	Byrne
Laura	Caputo
Laurie	Carlson
Heather	Charron
Alyson	Conover
Elaine	Crisafi
Liam	Cushman
Angus	Davison
Margaret	Decker
Amy	DeDeo
Hildy	Dvorak
Brenda	Dzierzeski
Naomi	Ellenburg-Dukas
Anya	Epstein
Renee	Eurdolian
Eileen	Farrell
Ernie	Fay
Debby	Fenn
Jared	Fernandez
Lynn	Findlay
Angelo	Firenze
Jenna	Flanagan
Harris	Foulkes
Virginia	Grant
Suzanne	Greenberg
Ilana	Gut
Viktoria	Haase
Brian	Hanley
Kaleigh	Hannigan
Jane	Haverty
Kelly	Higgins
Stephen	Hodgdon
Priscilla	Hughes
Brian	Iler
Melissa	Irion
Audrey	Jerome
Barbara	Johnson
Gary	Kelly
Maura	Kelly
Janice	Knight
Julia	Kostro
Andrew	Kramer
Pam	Larson
Chuck	Laverty
David	Lind
Larry	Link
Warren	Logan
Rosemary	LoRusso
Geoffrey	Lubein
Paula	Lyons
Katharine	MacIsaac
Zenda	Mancini
Kristen	Masoud
Beth	Maury
Camille	Mayeux
Gretchen	McClain
Marshall	McCloskey
Karey	McKenna
Glen	Mohr
Robin	Moore
Paulina	Muratore
Holly	Muson
Kent	Newton
Laura	Noerdlinger
Rachel	November
David	Nuscher
Laurel	Obermueller
Christine	O’Neill
Diane	Orfanos
Charis	Palandjian
Christopher	Piccione
Andrea	Prestwich
Kathy	Quirk
Sarah	Richards
Ann	Rittenburg
Judy	Rizzo
Ilyse	Robbins-Mohr
Phil	Rossoni
Kathleen	Rushe
Brian	Saper
Dennis	Simenson
Barbara	Skelly
Caroline	Sokol
Sharon	Sprague
Clare	Stanley
Heidi	Steinert
Holly	Stratford
Scott	Stratford
Matthew	Sullivan
Joyce	The Voice
Susan	Titus
John	Umina
Paula	van Horn
Ann	Verrilli
Mark	Wagner
Jen	Waldron
Marjorie	Wayne
Michael	Wissner
Ian	Wright
Joe	Zarro
Roseann	Zelny
Victor	Zelny
Erica	Zidel

Town Clerk’s Staff Members

Dan	Cane
Nancy	Casale
Meg	Piccione

Ellen O’Brien Cushman, Town Clerk and Fellow Members of the Board of Registrars of Voters: Robert McGaw, Paul Minor and Stephen Shestakofsky