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Marblehead votes today. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and there's a lot riding on this one — so here's what you're deciding, where to go and where to follow every result the moment the count begins.
Where you vote: If you're in Precincts 1 or 2, you're at Abbot Hall, 188 Washington St. If you're in Precincts 3 through 6, you're at the Marblehead High School Field House, 2 Humphrey St. One thing people can miss: vote both sides of the ballot — the questions are on the back.
Heading out the door? Take five minutes with our 2026 Marblehead Town Election Voter Guide first — every candidate in their own words, a plain-English breakdown of the four tax questions and links to early-voting hours and the official town info, all in one place.
The big decision: four tax questions
This is the year the town is asking voters to weigh in on its budget, and it comes down to four Proposition 2½ override questions tied to a deficit the town puts at roughly $7.7 million.
The first three are about the operating budget:
- Question 1 — $9 million: what the town says it needs to hold services where they are.
- Question 2 — $12 million: Question 1 plus room for the increases the town sees coming.
- Question 3 — $15 million: those increases, plus money to invest ahead.
Here's the part worth understanding before you fill in an oval: Questions 1, 2 and 3 are competing — they don't stack. You can vote on each one on its own, and each passes with a simple majority. But if more than one passes, only the highest-dollar question that clears becomes law.
Question 4 stands on its own. It's a separate $2.3 million override for curbside trash, yard waste, recycling and waste disposal. If it fails, the town has said a trash fee already on the books would pick up the cost instead.
Why this vote is a big deal
Marblehead funds things it can see and touch. Over 44 years of Prop 2½ votes, residents have approved schools, seawalls, fire trucks and historic renovations — debt exclusions pass here about 81 percent of the time. But permanent operating overrides are a different story: they've failed about 86 percent of the time, and the town hasn't approved a general operating budget increase since 2005. The last two operating overrides, in 2022 and 2023, lost. In 2010, voters turned down all 10 questions on the ballot.
That's the history every "yes" and every "no" is being measured against tonight — with the town's own forecast showing the gap widening to roughly $11 million by 2028 and $15 million by 2029.
Meanwhile, If Town Meeting-passed Article 23’s balanced-budget cuts take effect July 1, the town says it would lose 43.5 positions, the library would drop to three days a week and lose its accreditation pathway, the school resource officer would be eliminated, fire overtime would increase with the department already down one full shift, schools would face a $4 million FY28 deficit and the town’s structural deficit would keep growing.
The seats on the ballot
There are 24 seats up across town boards. The races to watch, where more people are running than there are seats:
- Select Board (2 seats): Rossana Ferrante, Jennifer Schaeffner and Erin Marie Noonan.
- Moderator (1 seat): Peter Jaffe vs. incumbent John Gregory Attridge.
- School Committee (2 seats): Sarah A. Fox, Ann Marie Jordan and Melissa Marie Clucas.
- Cemetery Commission (one 2-year term): Rose A. McCarthy vs. Sally Bull Sands.
- Housing Authority (1 seat): Jeffrey Richard Weeden vs. incumbent Jean R. Eldridge.
Plenty more is on the ballot too — Assessors, Board of Health, Library Trustees, Light Commission, Planning Board, Recreation and Parks and Water and Sewer. Not sure where someone stands? Nearly every candidate answered in their own words in our Voter Guide.
Follow it live with us tonight
Wherever you are when polls close, you'll be able to follow every race and every ballot question in one place — live, on your phone, updating as the numbers come in from all six precincts. The Marblehead Independent and the Marblehead Weekly News are doing this one together to give voters one clear, complete place to follow every race and every ballot question.
And here's our promise: we won't call a race until all six precincts are in. Until then you'll see who's leading, clearly marked — and when we tell you a result is final, you can trust it. No rushing, no walking it back.
Vote today. Then keep our website handy for coverage and check back at 8 p.m. — we'll bring you the whole picture, race by race, as Marblehead decides.
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