by Geoff Fox
Monday saw the first municipal election since town officials officially changed the date from January to April and saw a new mayor elected and two council seats filled.
In the race for the new mayor, former councilmen Levi Little and Tim Smith were both vying for the seat left up for grabs by outgoing mayor Ralph Salvagno.
Salvagno announced earlier this year he was not seeking re-election.
Smith garnered 174 votes to Little’s 161 to take the mayor’s seat.
In the council race, the top three vote-getters were separated by just three votes on election night.
Newcomer Misty Cubbage took in 156 votes to win her first term on the town council. Incumbent Murray won his re-election bid with 155 votes. Tim Boyer came up one vote short to win his re-election, getting 154 votes.
As of Tuesday morning, no candidate had requested a recount of the town ballots.
Challenger David Kerns received 142 votes and Preston Hall got 21 votes in Monday night vote counting.
Polls in Hancock were open at Town Hall on Monday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Polls closed on time with no voters waiting to cast a ballot. One voter came in at 7:02 and was turned away.
All candidates were stationed outside and when polls closed, most went to collect signs from around town.
According to vote counters, there were a total of 335 total ballots cast in the election. Officials said 322 ballots were cast in-person and 13 absentee ballots were cast. Election officials said three ballots were voided due to over voting.
Vote counting took just over an hour to complete.
The newly-elected mayor and two council members will be sworn into office on May 3.
