Preliminary local results: Wareham voters choose Obama for president, Brown for senate

Nov 7, 2012

Wareham voters favored Barack Obama over Mitt Romney for president, and Scott Brown over challenger Elizabeth Warren for U.S. Senate, according to preliminary results from the Town Clerk's office.

Obama won his second term, but Warren topped Brown statewide, unseating the senator.

Wareham voters overwhelmingly favored the "Right to Repair" law and the legalization of marijuana for medical uses, but were less sure about whether to allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

A total of 10,928 voters showed up at the polls in Wareham on Tuesday. That's comparable to the 10,914 voters who cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election, according to Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva.

For the presidential race, Wareham voters overwhelmingly backed President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden over Republican challengers Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, 6,069 to 4,632 votes.

The votes for Senator in Congress were close in Wareham. Local voters favored Republican Senator Scott Brown over Democrat Elizabeth Warren, 5,549 to 5,314.

Voters in Wareham also overwhelmingly favored keeping Congressman Bill Keating in office. Keating, a Democrat, won the newly-created 9th District seat. In Wareham, Keating garnered 6,194 votes to Republican challenger Christopher Sheldon's 3,183 and Independent Daniel Botelho's 905.

In the Governor's Council race, Wareham voters favored Democrat Oliver P. Cipollini Jr., over his brother, Republican Charles Cipollini. The Democrat garnered 5,244 votes, while the Republican brother earned 4,260 votes. Oliver Cipollini won, with 55% of the votes.

Running unopposed for another term in the state Senate was Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton). He earned 8,355 votes in Wareham.

Also running unopposed was state Representative Susan Williams Gifford (R-Wareham). She garnered 8,341 votes in Wareham.

Running unopposed for Plymouth County Clerk of Courts was Democrat Robert S. Creedon Jr., who received 7,963 votes in Wareham.

For the position of Register of Deeds incumbent John R. Buckley Jr., a Democrat, received 6,226 votes in Wareham. Republican challenger Anthony Thomas O'Brien Sr. received  3,515 votes in Wareham. Buckley won, with 61% of the votes.

Two seats for Plymouth County Commissioner are up for grabs. In Wareham, Democrat Greg Hanley garnered 4,970 votes, Republican Daniel A. Pallotta received 3,334 votes, and Independent Maryanne Lewis received 2,623. The race is not officially decided, though Hanley had 43% of the votes as of this printing.

The ballot also featured uncontested races for the Upper Cape Tech Regional School Committee. Earning seats were Mary L. Crook of Bourne, Mark A. Mancini of Falmouth, Elizabeth L.N. Magauran of Marion, Steven L. Chalke of Sandwich, and Robert Fichtenmayer of Wareham.

 

Question 1: Availability of motor vehicle repair information

Wareham voters were overwhelmingly in favor of the "Right to Repair" law, with 8,149 people voting "yes" and 1,251 voting "no." The measure was approved statewide.

The law will prohibit any motor vehicle manufacturer, starting with model year 2015, from selling or leasing a new vehicle without allowing the owner to have access to the same diagnostic and repair information made available to the manufacturer’s dealers and in-state authorized repair facilities, according to the Secretary of State's office.

 

Question 2: Prescribing medication to end life

Voters in Wareham were almost split about whether doctors should be allowed to prescribe medication, at a terminally ill patient's request, to end the patient's life. The question got 5,557 "no" votes to 5,026 "yes" votes.

It was not immediately clear whether the measure would pass statewide.

To qualify, a patient would have had to be an adult resident who is medically determined to be mentally capable of making health care decisions; has been diagnosed by physicians as having an incurable disease that will, "within reasonable medical judgment," cause death within six months; voluntarily expresses a wish to die and has made an informed decision. The proposal states that the patient would ingest the medicine "in order to cause death in a humane and dignified manner," according to the Secretary of State's office.

 

Question 3: Medical use of marijuana

Voters statewide overwhelmingly favored legalizing the use of marijuana for medical reasons. In Wareham, the question garnered 6,751 "yes" votes to 3,792 "no" votes.

The proposed law will eliminate state criminal and civil penalties for the medical use of marijuana by qualifying patients. To qualify, a patient must have been diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition, such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV-positive status or AIDS, hepatitis C, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, or multiple sclerosis.

 

These results are preliminary. The preliminary numbers do not include ballots that needed to be hand-counted, the Clerk's office reported.